'Sex/Crime' is advertised as a dark comic queer thriller. It succeeds in part. In a fractured and divided city, two men; ‘A’ and ‘B’, meet to recreate the killings of a famous gay serial killer; for strange pleasure at the right price. We get the setup easily, but the writing repeats without progressing until a reasonable plot twist which is followed by some unsatisfactory tableaux that lead to the end. I was disappointed in this imbalance in the storytelling and the comedy falls away as the show progresses.
Both actors deliver their lines as heightened, arch, caricature queens - tone and delivery become monotonous as we lose subtlety of acting or character. If this is the director’s choice to suggest the characters are interchangeable, then he loses more than he gains.
Sightlines are poor for any behind the front two rows: any action on the floor is out of sight. Lighting is interesting, but the floor tubes became annoying distractions. Alexis Gregory (B) and Jonny Woo (A) work hard for their laughs, but Gregory’s play fails to develop into a piece which will entertain any but a partisan audience.
Derek Benfield