There's a point about half-way through Rob Hayes' new one-man play at which Jack Holden's Bobby declares to an unseen lover something along the lines of: "That's the first time I've made love to someone with a beard. Or hooves."
As its title suggests, Awkward Conversations With Animals I've F**ked is about bestiality. For better or worse, it's also very, very funny.
In the first of its five scenes, when Bobby is speaking to a dog he's just spent the night with, he finds himself nervously tripping over potentially offensive remarks (he has a major faff about using the word "stay", for example); and then in a later one-way discussion with a cat he points out that he doesn't want to install a cat-flap because he's "not a slut". Hayes' script and Holden's faultless performance keep you giggling throughout; whether it's with disgust, the absurdity of it all or just the sheer intelligence of a well-delivered one-liner.
Jack Holden as Bobby (Photo: PR)
There's clearly something wrong with Bobby, though; and if his choice of conquest didn't make that clear enough then Holden's brilliantly restless, intense performance really hammers it home. He doesn't understand the problem with what he's doing (a rant mid-way through about how he can legally buy a goat, drink its milk and even chop its testicles off but not love it really highlights the fact) and it's a credit to Hayes, Holden and director Edward Stambollouian that you as a viewer can recognise how rancid Bobby's sex life is without passionately disliking him as a person.
More Edinburgh Fringe:
Holden with playwright Hayes (Photo: Twitter)
Awkward Conversations... certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, there's no doubt about that. But there's absolutely no danger of being blindsided by its content, either: You go into it expecting a bizarrely funny play about bestiality and that's exactly what you get.
4/5
Read our interview with actor Jack Holden here.
Awkward Conversations With Animals I've F**ked runs daily at 18:50 until August 24 (not 13) at Underbelly (Venue 61).
