We Want You To Watch
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
2/5

RashDash have built a reputation for anarchic, physical theatre productions that have a strong feminist slant.

Their latest show, We Want You To Watch, continues this tradition by asking the audience to imagine a world without pornography. It’s as confrontational as ever but it lacks the company’s usual focus and bite.

Written by rising star Alice Birch, it follows militant feminists Pig and Sissy (played by company co-founders Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen) through four key fantasy encounters. There’s a man on a murder charge whose porn habit is used as evidence against him; a boy whose early exposure to porn has damaged his adult relationships; a sadistic child mega-hacker; and a scene in which the queen is forced to ban porn.

Each raises valid points about freedom of speech and the social implications of porn but fail to intersect to build up a cohesive argument. By the closing scene the message being conveyed is incomprehensible as an elderly man wanders around with a bunch of bananas and a woman simulates sex on a rocking horse.

There are fleeting moments of a more considered argument, such as Goalen voicing a note of concern for the sisterhood when she asks Greenland: “Is this OK?” before slamming her to the floor to demonstrate hardcore porn.

Such touches are, however, too inconsequential to save the show from confusion and director Caroline Steinbeis fails to give it clear structure. As such it offers a full-on assault of impressive choreography and thundering electro-pop but it leaves little scope for an honest, stimulating debate about the subject.
Touring until 23 October 2015

Review by Susan Darlington