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The Review - THEATRE by SARA NEWMAN
Published: 31 January 2008

Jonathan Laury (Luke) and James Kristian (Jake) in Counterfeit Skin

Boys just wanna have fun in pseudo-soap

COUNTERFEIT SKIN
Courtyard Theatre

JAKE spends his days lazing on the sofa, eating his godfather’s cakes and moaning to his best friend about his suffocating live-in boyfriend.
At the other side of the stage two male receptionists fill their time gawping at Gaydar on the internet.
All the characters risk their emotional wellbeing to serve their sexual and material desires.
Although the production tackles modern trends that might once have been considered daring – nudity, sadomasochism, broken homes and, of course, homosexuality – it falls short of real insight.
There’s a lot of Hollyoak-esque discussions about sex and, when our boys are trying to be their most sentimental, a parade of elephants overhead performing The Winter’s Tale in the upstairs auditorium shatters the moment.
But despite the script’s high cringe factor, each of the actors have their revealing and funny moments.
Chris Grezo is a fine foil for the ectomorphic seducer-receptionist James Trueman; he is subtle, measured and believable. James Kristian as Jake is stunning when he speaks passionately about his desire to be hurt and very capable of depicting the idiosyncrasies of a passive aggressive.
If you disregard his Madonna lip-synching, which could be hilarious if he didn’t take it quite so seriously, Trueman is also pretty fab. Depending on your TV habits you’ll view it as either a metaphorical car crash or decent live soap opera.
Until February 10
0870 163 0717

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