Tag: Jessica Ronane

Porn Play by Sophia Chetin-Leuner, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 8 November 2025

This excellent production, which Janie and I saw on the second preview evening, made us feel uncomfortable in many ways. The central subject matter – addiction to violent on-line pornography – is a deliberately discomforting topic. Playwright Sophia Chetin-Leuner takes this topic on in an unflinching yet surprisingly nuanced manner in this play.

It is really a play about addiction taking hold of a bright individual and destroying their life. It just so happens that violent porn is the addiction in this case.

The acting was universally excellent. Ambika Mod, as the victim of the addiction, is, understandably, getting most of the plaudits. She is on stage almost throughout the play and what a challenging role it must be. Will Close, Lizzy Connolly and Asif Khan provide excellent support, playing multiple parts each and doing so convincingly.

Josie Rourke is a superb director. This is the first time we have seen her work since she returned from her career break. She’s certainly still got what it takes.

Royal Court Theatre information about the production can be found here.

Formal reviews of the production can be found here. They have been almost universally positive, resulting in the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs run selling out.

I said the production made us feel uncomfortable in many ways. Apart from our discomfort with the subject matter…not least the topicality of questions around abusive and violent sex…we were also visually and physically discomforted by the set/seating.

The carpeted set looked like seedy living space from the 1970s or 1980s – deliberately I’m sure. The audience is asked to put shoe covers on when entering, as if to symbolise a need for personal protection…but also perhaps for practical reasons to protect the set.

But most discomforting of all was the seating on those “carpeted steps” doubling as seats. No back support and 100 minutes of tense drama. We walked out of the theatre like John Wayne having just dismounted from his horse…or…[insert your own unsubtle and unsuitable metaphor here]. Still, it was worth it.

Excellent play, excellent production.

Baby Girl by Roy Williams, DNA by Dennis Kelly and The Miracle by Lin Coghlan, Cottesloe Theatre, 23 February 2008

A mixed bag evening, mostly good stuff in the mix, with three short plays all with a “yoof” theme, at the Cottesloe.

We weren’t going to miss this one. Roy Williams we liked a lot when we first came across him at the Royal Court a few years before. Ditto Dennis Kelly, whose work we’d very much enjoyed at the Hampstead. Lin Coghlan was new to us.

We weren’t overly familiar with Paul Miller’s name as director then, although we had seen his work before and now (writing in 2016) know his work well at the Orange Tree.

Apparently this production emerged from the National Theatre’s Connections programme, getting young people involved in performing, although this production was picked up by and delivered by professionals, albeit some of them very young professionals.

There is an excellent, free RNT education workpack for these plays, which includes synopses and other educational materials to accompany the pieces – click here to download.

LondonTheatre.co.uk provides a useful cast & crew list and a short synopsis of each play.

Interesting reviews:

I think we liked the first two plays a fair bit more than the last, but two out of three really ain’t bad for this sort of evening, so we were thoroughly satisfied.