The Jenny Johnson Show

In a reworking of the play ‘Sleeping With Straight Men’, Jack Hodgetts has created a strong vehicle for thoughts about homophobia and media exploitation. Based on a real incident, where car crash television was judged to be the cause of one man’s murder, the story also poses the thought that messing with peoples sexuality is a dangerous game. A tough challenge to keep the balance between the serious nature of the story and pure entertainment, Hodgetts pulls it off by having one of the central characters, the unrequited love interest for the central gay character Geoffrey, perform songs from his/her drag act. This conceit works well as actor Sanjit Chudha’s portrayal of Rita Bix is accomplished although the songs could perhaps be more comfortably integrated into the whole by leaving Rita in her dressing room to the side of the stage throughout the production. Tony Heavey’s Geoffrey is well observed and acted, self absorbed and deluded he plays a dangerous and arrogant game. Peter Moller as James, Geoffrey’s heterosexual prey is marvellously contained in his performance as the confident straight guy but in the end he falls foul of the idea that the only difference between a straight man and a gay man is a few pints of lager.

It’s a complex argument and in many ways a serious one, but the whole is lightened by great comedic moments pitched against the dark realities of AIDS, prejudice and staying in the closet, which Rebecca Golding does rather well as the eponymous TV chat host and secret lesbian Jenny Johnson. The remainder of the cast – an arch make-up man, a driven and hard-nosed TV producer, an undervalued girlfriend and a naive mother all provide a solid backdrop for this drama that explores the fragile nature of sexuality and the ease with which it can be exploited.

The Network Theatre, Waterloo, London, 13 November 2013

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