Having just seen Sisterhood: A Circus Celebration I thought I’d complement the experience with a piece about ‘experiences and views of modern-day masculinity’. A Night Out with the Boys is two unconnected monologues performed by two young men (again no program so I’m unable to credit them accordingly).  

In the first, a bespectacled young man nervously bursts on stage and bleats that he “can’t get a girlfriend” and that “feminism is ruining the dating pool”. What??? Have I walked into a support group for disgruntled entitled white heterosexual men? Indeed for the first five minutes of the piece I am unsure how to take this. Is he being ironic? Is he performing a character or is he doing standup?

Is he speaking from his own experience? Is this a script? The actor shifts awkwardly between various two-dimensional men, all of whom spout familiar yet offensive misogynistic, racist diatribes.

These men are incels, eugenicists, anti-feminist, anti-semitic, anti-liberal and I wince at almost every utterance.

What this performer is trying to do is a big challenge fraught with difficulties. He gives voice to these males in an attempt (I’m assuming) to get inside their heads and allow the audience to examine why these opinions exist. However neither the writing nor the performance are strong enough to really crack the beast’s back. Merely repeating these opinions without any real examination of their context is akin to sensationalist media coverage.

What is the point in repeating these abhorrent world views? Shock value? Comedy? Discussion starter? The intention is not clear. In many ways it seems like a macabre titillation he is forcing upon the audience.

The performer’s nerves mean that he begins the piece without establishing any real connection with us that might allow us to want to know more about him. He isn’t really able to fill any of the characters with conviction and they become cyphers rather than complex ideas. The piece bounces from privileged male to arrogant male to violent male, all spinning around the original “I can’t get a girlfriend” figure.

The final moment is where this piece should fall into place and deliver a chilling punctuation point and meaning to the whole. However it fails to do so due to lack of strong and complex narrative structuring, muscular performance or audience engagement. 

The second performer of the evening is a stronger actor and has made a clear choice as to the tone of his piece. The irony of this character is clear from the beginning and the exaggerated posing and physicality of his alpha male are committed and engaging. He establishes a clear relationship with the audience and is continually trying to sell us something, whether it be his ego or viagra. It’s not long however before the cracks begin to show and we are given brief glimpses of the character’s vulnerability.

This is where we enter dangerous territory and unfortunately the writing again is not strong enough to allow the performer to deliver a meaningful layered message. What we are left with is a simplistic take on how toxic masculinity also affects the very men who enact it. This is often used as an anti-feminist argument and it ignores the complexities of the issue. Without this rigour of thought in the writing the piece quickly devolves into a superficial comic look at the alpha male.

The end of the piece tries to strip away the pretence of this forced masculinity exposing the ‘real’ vulnerability that has been the wellspring of toxicity and aggression. But if the aim is to make us feel sympathy for this man, it misses its mark. Sympathy is last thing we should feel, otherwise the piece has been all for nothing.

Overall I commend the bravery of these two young male performers for wanting to engage with these timely and difficult issues but unfortunately they don’t yet have the skills or experience to really deliver work that has the depth and complexity that these issues demand. 

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer