Brawn

Christopher Wollaton’s self penned and performed one man play is an impressive study of the tyranny of beauty and in this case the body beautiful. A young man is compulsively exercising in the vain hope that by creating the perfectly toned and efficient body he will become the perfect man. Wollaton has the body for sure and displays it as he intersperses his demanding exercise regime with the story of how he has ended up here, isolated in his parents’ garage.

The performance is beautifully delivered in that it is ordinary, not in that it is an ordinary performance but that the character is just an ordinary young guy, driven to extremes in the hope of finding acceptance and love. Peer pressure pushing him forward, the obsession with looking “right” rather than simply being right has left him damaged and alone. It’s a sad truth told well in this short but compelling piece and Wollaston as author and performer does it justice.

The Warren

16 May

Andrew Kay

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