Unsolicited Male

It is difficult to not feel some sense of foreboding upon hearing the phrase “inspired by the #MeToo movement” attached to a forthcoming project, though in the wake of last year’s peak of sexual harassment scandals (in Hollywood especially), it is unsurprising that artforms are now responding. As audiences, we expect to see a reflection of ourselves and our politics in the art we consume, but there is an expediency of which these stories are derived that often leave you feeling faintly apprehensive of the story about to be told. Buffeted by an ongoing news cycle, it’s easier to wonder, as I did: What am I going to learn from this? And whose side is this on?

Written by veteran playwright Ron Elisha, Unsolicited Male is a sharp, harrowing, and explicit deep-dive into the politics of male and female relationships in the workplace. It is clear very quickly that Elisha wants to see the toppling of a Weinstein: he isn’t here to softly consider the #MeToo movement – he wants it fully understood, and valued.

The premise is this: You’re working late. Your boss offers to take to dinner on the way home. What do you do?

Here it’s Wendy as secretary (Kym Valentine, in a excellent, vehement performance) and Zeke as boss (Russell Fletcher, also excellent, veering between sympathetic and dangerous with ease). At first we watch Wendy and Zeke in “real time”, as the two venture out to dinner and, slowly, start getting to know each other. Then, in a genius example of blocking, we see Wendy and Zeke fast-forward to “present day” where they each recap the event with their respective confidant: Wendy’s sister Chelsea (played by Gabriella Rose-Carter) and Zeke’s “life coach” Noah (played by Liam Seymour), each revealing that the evening ended in sexual intercourse. From there, we watch as the evening manoeuvres its way to an inevitable end, as the question of consent anxiously looms in the air.

Watching this unfold is not unlike watching a horror film, where the characters’ fates appear inevitable. Director Suzanne Heywood pins her characters on opposite sides the stage (and the story). We see Wendy’s anguish and guilt, while not forgetting Zeke’s embarrassment and snuffed pride. We hear Chelsea’s outrage and confusion, while still shaking our head at Noah’s piggish enthusiasm and “atta boy” attitude.

Elisha’s prose, driven by the two strong lead performances, teeters between the two poles, furthering the complexity of the dynamics between man and woman, and the specific power imbalance between Wendy and Zeke. Elisha and Heywood’s successfully deconstructed story allows you to wonder if there’s any hope of deconstructing this imbalance, and rebuilding anew.

It’s a question worth pondering, even if we don’t find answers: perhaps just catharsis.

Unsolicited Male 
Q44 Theatre, SHG. 16 Sacred Heart Building, Abbotsford
Till Sunday, 7 October 2018
q44.com.au/event/unsolicited-male