A Real Doll is a play about a lonely middle aged man who orders a custom made sex doll to fulfil all his social and emotional needs, amongst others. With a premise like that the show could have got by on uncomfortable hahas and morbid curiosity alone. Yet, though there is sufficient squirming voyeurism, to keep you from making eye contact with the opposite sex for hours, underneath it all lurks a genuinely funny and interesting play.
Natasha Leigh, playing The Doll, does a fantastic job in both her animate and inanimate roles. A rigidity pervades her every move, through the long periods of stillness at the start, through giddy joy in the middle to the explosively angry climax. Complementing her was the nervous twitch and fidget of Richard O’Brien’s as he played Jeffry Hutchens. The excited tremor of his hands as he first touched his new acquisition’s skin made the whole audience, women especially, shudder and recoil. Both characters were awkward, but in completely different ways.
Once past the magnificently compelling discomfort at the start it was with surprise and delight that this turned out to be an all round good play. There were some great one liners, some good old fashioned puns, but best of all some rather poignant dark humour. Some of the funniest bits for me were those gems where a little bit of everyone’s familiar failings were magnified up to be ridiculous, yet recognisable, monsters. In fact, if you found some time to notice it between the funnies, the play was at times quite sad, because we all know someone who is just a little like the awkward Mr. Hutchens.
As always, there is so much more to say, but I just don’t have the space. Boys and girls, you really don’t have an excuse not to watch this play. It’s funny, it’s edge-of-your-seat compelling, it’s a talking piece, and it’s five pounds. Some friends and I went for food and drinks post work, were then fully entertained and were left with plenty to talk about even after the laughs eventually died down. It was a great evening. I suggest you have one too.
Matty Czaczkes, 26/05/09
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