The Censor @ Chapter
In light of the kerfuffle a few months back between Patrick Jones (or, rather, his latest book release) and Stephen Green of Christian Voice, the producers of Patrick’s previous play, Revelations, wasted no time in putting their weight behind The Censor which played at Chapter last week.
In producing a play involving full-frontal nudity (albeit on a screen behind the live action) and what can only be best described on a website for young folk as 'adult themes', the Faction Collective and director Chris Durnall have done a stand-up job in highlighting the dangers of modern censorship.
Starring the two cast members of Revelation – Stacey Daly as Miss Fontaine and Nathan Sussex as the titular censor, who reprise their roles as cheerfully unhinged and downtrodden respectively – The Censor is a short, sharp, spiky piece of visceral theatre that is economic on both time and compromise.
As in their previous production, Daly and Sussex have chemistry in spades, which is interrupted only by third and final cast member Julie Barclay who plays the screeching, frustrated wife of the woefully denial-ridden censor.
From Miss Fontaine’s shift from focussed siren to aloof victor, to the censor’s succumbing to her charms and sexual advances only to find he’s been played like a pubic teen, The Censor, much like Revelation, offers many questions but no easy answers.
We can’t help feeling that the Faction Collective are onto something with their thread of plays, which jolt their punters into on-the-spot moral decisions usually reserved for boorish pub flippancy. We look forward to seeing what comes next.
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