While escape rooms might be all the rage, it’s not the experience the characters in Ian Hallard’s shockingly funny new comedy were hoping for. Horse-Play, directed by Andrew Beckett and now playing at Riverside Studios, explores the things that turn us on, and for added hilarity, what happens when it all goes wrong.
Tom (Jake Maskall) and Tim (David Ames) hope to spice up their relationship by hiring a sex dungeon for the evening. Tom is obviously keen to please Tim by pandering to his long held fantasy of roleplaying those precarious final scenes from the camp and kitsch 1960’s version of Batman, and it falls to escort, Karl (Matt Lapinskas) to be the treacherous guest villain.
But holy dildo Batman! Just as things start to hot up, Karl has an accident which results in a bout of amnesia, a problem – as the locked door requires a code to be opened. With our unlikely trio trapped, we start to discover the lives and motivations hidden beneath the layers of spandex.
It’s a clever concept, and although it takes a scene or two to fully appreciate the set-up, once we do it all bizarrely starts to make sense. The first act starts to teeter a little towards the end, as the number of ways sex toys can be used in a survival scenario diminish. But the second act comes back much stronger, with more outrageous jokes and the introduction of a couple of new characters, most notably Danielle (Stephanie Siadatan).
Ian Hallard’s script is strong, particularly in terms of the comedy. There’s one moment where Danielle describes a client who has a fetish for being stuffed like a turkey, the joke builds up beautifully before a delicious punchline is served up with expert timing.
We also get a good flavour of the individual characters, David Ames stands out in the role of Tim, channelling strong Alexis Carrington Colby vibes as he revels in the joys of 1980’s soap operas. The most surprising character development comes through Karl, and Matt Lapinskas does an excellent job of taking the audience along for the ride.
David Shields’ set looks exactly what one might imagine a sex dungeon to look like, dank and dark, a little bit seedy, and with plenty of unusual looking items that turn out to be quite handy. There are certainly parts of Horse-Play that could be tightened up, and perhaps a little more rehearsal time would have benefitted the cast who occasionally found themselves tripping over their lines.
But there is something strangely appealing about this production. With Horse-Play Ian Hallard emerges like a 21st Century Joe Orton, penning a scandalous dark comedy that thrives on being ludicrous; all that was missing was Bobby Ewing emerging from the shower to tell us it had all been one crazy, but enjoyable, dream.
Horse-Play is at Riverside Studios until 24th September 2022.
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