Written By: Lauren Bell
Format: Play
Genre: Comedy Drama
Date: June 1 2018
Location: Unity Theatre, Liverpool
“In an oak-panelled room in Oxford, ten young bloods with cut-glass vowels and deep pockets are meeting, intent on restoring their right to rule. Members of an elite student dining society, the boys are bunkering down for a wild night of debauchery, decadence and bloody good wine. But this isn’t the last huzzah: they’re planning a takeover. Welcome to the Riot Club.”
Posh was first performed in London’s Royal Court in 2010, before having a West End transfer in 2012. Written by English playwright Laura Wade, Posh tells the story of a group of ten young Oxford students, who are meeting up in a country pub for their termly dinner. Under the cover of ‘young entrepreneurs’, they are greeted by the landlord Chris and his daughter Rachel, who are instantly known to the audience as being of a different social class to the young men.
Straight away, the audience are immediately drawn to the fact that these men have money; and they have lots of it. From paying £85 for a room just to get changed in for half an hour, to ordering a prostitute, to paying off another party’s bill just to stop complaints against themselves, these men aren’t afraid to flaunt their cash. They know that they can solve any problem with money.
Towards the end, when a lot of wine has been consumed, there is an interesting turn of events, when the men trash the room, and are confronted by the angry landlord after also assaulting his daughter Rachel. In quite shocking and disturbing scenes, the men assault the landlord, leaving him unconscious, and the police are called.
Overall, the play was an insightful delve into the lives of the upper class. It was quite frightening to see the way they feel that they can pay their way out of things, and that by handing over money, it cancels out any wrongdoings or mistakes in their lives. The men didn’t have any morals, and by their own words, ‘people like us don’t make mistakes’. They do make mistakes, but they can pay their way out and not have to worry about the consequences.
The show was very well put together, and well-acted throughout; in fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the show was an amateur production. The cast worked well together, and bounced off each other’s lines well, as they all tried to prove their relevance and worth within the club. Although there were a few stumbles over lines and a bit of cutting over each other, the cast all did well to carry their characters performance throughout.
I feel the show was too long, with the first act being 1 hour 35 minutes, and the second act being 1 hour. Some of the scenes could have been cut shorter, especially towards the end, and I found myself losing concentration in some of the more contrasting scenes were there was less drama happening. Saying that, the cast did all maintain a good pace, and did well to keep focus, even when their character wasn’t at the fore-front of the scene. The set was minimal, but suited its purpose, and although the lighting and music were kept to a minimum, there were some excellent interpretive transitions, which really aided the play.
As the cast were mostly all together in scenes, it is hard to pick out any particular stand-out performances. However, the landlord Chris (Mycroft Milverton) did well to hold his own as the sole contrasting character in the scenes with the ten young men. Within the ten young men, I felt that George (Henry Zirpolo) and Hugo (Jack Watson) really helped with providing light relief to separate from the more serious aspects of the show, and they seemed to have the audience howling throughout, even when they were in the background.
Overall, I did enjoy the play, but found myself still questioning the storyline when I left. I would recommend this show to anyone who would like an insight into the world of the upper class and Oxford University.
Overall Rating: 7/10 – Respectable
