Diving deep into the murky, psychological realms of human sexuality, Steve Lambert’s play Aftercare centres around three people in the BDSM scene who have developed a twisted, codependent relationship with each other. But for a piece that’s all about blood play and cutting, the play is nowhere near as edgy or engaging as it should be. At the White Bear Theatre.
Sam, a young woman whose life is dulled by a soul-sucking managerial job, seeks out the company of Paul and submits to his sadomasochistic treatments. At first shocked by the experience, she soon develops a taste for the pain that has renewed her senses and perception of the world. She demands an even harsher and more painful treatment with long-lasting effects. But Paul, who has a history as a submissive, finds himself unable to cater to Sam’s needs. He is still under the spell of his old mistress Lisa (Claire Louise Amias) who has literally scarred him for life. Suffice to say, this show is not for the squeamish.
At its heart, the play asks how relationships really work and why we seek them out even though a lot of them are bound to end in self-compromise, disappointment or even pain. Is it the sadomasochistic side of relationships that a lot of people actually crave? There are many facets to BDSM, and the play appears to be much truer in its depiction of submissive and dominant behaviour than E.L. James’ ubiquitous Fifty Shades saga. Without glorifying or sugarcoating anything, Lambert’s play shows how physical sacrifice and subordination take precedence over personal proximity and emotional support.
If only it were more interesting to watch. It takes quite a while to warm to the characters and then after motivations and conflicts have been introduced, the piece meanders aimlessly without ever going anywhere. I could swear that at some point the author has somehow managed to make a connection between a committed relationship and human vampirism, but then I can’t be entirely sure because somewhere between litanies about who drinks whose blood and the pointless passing around of a razor I lost interest in the characters.
Giles Chiplin’s set is a grungy-looking background with a bench that, later on, when the play’s setting changes into a derelict church, serves as a coffin-like structure. The practical set toned down to a bare minimum would have served more purposeful performers as a space to lay open the psychological scope of utterly dominating or being dominated by another human being. But at times it just felt like the actors were only saying the dialogue and were not really inhabiting the character. Basil Stephenson sometimes gets lost on the tiny stage of the White Bear, so unfocussed is his Paul that at times he seems to unconsciously contradict what is being said in the script. A bold choice by Vanessa Russell to choose Aftercare as her debut stage performance, and she certainly plays SM novice Sam with conviction and the right mix of innocence and eagerness.
However, on the whole it simply wasn’t an interesting watch – not sexy enough to spark any primal desire and the build-up to key scenes wasn’t tense enough to make me care. There certainly is a bold, well-researched idea in there somewhere, but the execution left me completely cold. Some of the more interesting aspects about religion being touched on in the play are unfortunately not explored further.