Rodney Black: Who Cares? It’s Working – Lion & Unicorn

Most shows are interested primarily in being funny. But what happens when you try to go deeper than that? To cut beneath humour, to the blood and the violence? What happens when the line between a joke and the real-world dissolves, and collapses? These are the questions that the Full Frontal Theatre poses in its no-holds-barred production of Rodney Black: Who Cares? It’s Working.

Following the story of an edgelord-misogynist comedian who doesn’t seem to believe in anything he says on stage, but whose career skyrockets as he pursues a darker routine with real world impacts, Rodney Black isn’t a pleasant show to watch, nor is it meant to be; playwright Sadie Pearson and director Hen Ryan force viewers to contend with a side of comedy that most probably don’t enjoy ruminating on, their exploration thoughtful while maintaining a sharp ethical sensibility. While Bertie Taylor-Smith’s very effective performance as the sleazy, money-obsessed Manager isn’t meant to garner much sympathy, Rodney Black (played by Ben Willows) is something different – not a person for whom we’re meant to root per se, but someone whose subtleties we’re meant to consider.

Willows’ performance might more accurately be described as of two characters, both well-formed and well-acted: the real Rodney Black (uncertain, unsatisfied) and the persona of Rodney Black onstage (unquestioning, unsettling). Together these performances offer a unique insight into the confluence of technological and economic forces that lead us into the darker corners of modern culture. And we have one more character, Woman (Merida Beasley), whose position is much more ambiguous, something of a narrator, something of a ghost. Beasley engages the audience fairly well, making her case and illuminating the tragedy at the heart of the show, though the vagueness of the character as written hinders her a bit.

There is one moment, while doing standup herself, when she is at her most human and most vulnerable – it’s a tender moment in a play without much tenderness, and alongside another of Beasley’s (the most audience interactive) and one with the two men (when a great secret is revealed, and your stomach truly drops) is amongst the most compelling. 

Rodney Black is a show without hard answers, and in that way, it approaches the subject matter with a humility that is often lacking in discussions of this topic. Yet it is also admirably unwilling to let go of its eye to injustice. It’s difficult. It will grab audiences, and it doesn’t let go. 

Reviewer: Zak Rosen

Reviewed: 17th December 2024

North West End UK Rating: