We have a new and exciting playwright on the proverbial block and this James Cain-directed Red Scare Theatre Company ‘chamber piece’, performed by Heather O’Carroll and Ali Foa’i, does Matthew Loveranes proud.  

Mood porn. What even is that? It is certainly true that a wealth of moods are experienced by Jane (O’Carroll) and Atlas (Foa’i) as they reconnect a dozen-or-so years after those heady years when they and their mutual friend Eliot were ‘the three amigos’ at university.

Perhaps Loveranes – who has a Master of Arts in Scriptwriting from the International Institute of Modern Letters – simply set himself the challenge of writing a play that explores a full range of moods and calling it MoodPorn is a word-play on ‘food porn’, defined by Urban Dictionary as, “Close-up images of juicy, delicious food in advertisements.”

“I wanted to write a tender, juicy steak of a play that had different and complex flavours the more you chewed on it,” Loveranes says in the media release. “I went back to a tried and tested recipe: I wrote a chamber piece where secrets have been marinating between two flawed, interesting, vulnerable people. And I’m pretty satisfied with what I’ve made.” And so he should be.

Lucas Neal’s modern apartment set, graced with sleek pine shelving, white furnishings, David Trubridge light fittings, artworks by Reuben Patterson and Heather Straker (props & costume coordinator, Natasha Thyne), and judiciously lit by Tony Black, suggests someone – Atlas, as it turns out – has done very well for themselves.

Not that we discover exactly how, other than that he’s been overseas and returned when his mother was ill. A photo of him with Frank Ocean and Elizabeth Warren, plus a set of ‘Russian dolls’ featuring US presidents, suggests the USA – possibly something to do with academia … But I’m getting ahead of myself.  

Jane’s opening monologue brings her, and us, through the sequence of events that have led to this moment; to her sitting on a dining chair in this apartment. It is vividly written and delivered, as a random encounter on a bus is detailed alongside the Facebook ‘friending’ that has ignited the reunion. Loveranes’ word-pictures are surprising and succulent, and O’Carroll’s evocation of conflicting responses to the parallel events is rivetting.

The moment of reuniting has already happened, it turns out, which is important to know when, in retrospect, we seek further answers to questions not raised in the play. They have already covered that ground and it is up to us to fill in those blanks. The focus is firmly on their responses – their changing moods – as they get to know each other again and confront their unfinished business.

Given their shared passion for film studies back in the day, a key device for moving through their agenda items is film-related ‘top 5’ challenges, and later: ‘the worst thing you ever did’. Often raised as a diversionary tactic, they sometimes take them deeper. As such the devices work a treat, principally for the authenticity both actors bring to navigating what they encounter in each other – and also because we also become engaged empathetically in the answers to the challenges and the revelations that follow.

Because what is revealed and the subsequent effects are continually surprising and enriching, I cannot say much more here. You have to share their experiences for yourselves. Let me just reassure you it’s not just talk. The physical dynamics are eloquent, the very first meeting of Jane and Atlas is recalled in ‘present action’, and the more recent meeting between Atlas and Eliot is re-enacted ‘on demand’. And director James Cain’s skill in facilitating the utterly absorbing interactions between Heather O’Carroll and Ali Foa’i is augmented by ‘intimacy choreographer’ James Kiesel.

Matthew Loveranes’ wrote MoodPorn when he was 23 and 24; it was shorlisted by Playmarket’s Playwrights b4 25 and selected for 2018’s Asian Ink Playwriting Development Programme. As such his ability to manifest, with such intimate understanding, an earlier generation, and to explore an age and stage he has not yet lived through, is remarkable. He also takes risks relating to sex and sexuality that may jolt the complacency of those who think they have it all neatly sorted.

Enough said. MoodPorn is a thrilling debut for a clearly talented playwright. 

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