JOCK at the Golden Goose Theatre

★★½

“an interesting, if imperfect, examination of predatory twenty-first century masculinity held together by a strong performance”

Written and performed by Charlie Howard, Jock is an autobiographical piece recounting his experiences as a young student attempting to gain access into the hyper-masculine in-group of the university’s rugby team. The play explores the process by which some young men are attracted to binge drinking and misogynistic attitudes by the promise of becoming part of something bigger than themselves and fitting in with men who have seen and done this all before them.

Jock explores the protagonist’s journey from naïve initiate to seasoned group member passing a number of steps towards acceptance, including drinking challenges, casual sexual encounters, and humiliating rituals, eventually repeating the same patterns of cruelty on others that he had experienced himself, before a moment of shock leads to an emotional and medical crossroads. The move from naïveté to jaded experience represents growth for the character and the audience is brought along, although the autobiographical nature of the source material precludes the kind of truly shocking event that could act as a stronger transformational volta in a critique of toxic masculinity, beyond the aforementioned health issue, which is signposted at the outset of the play and does not immediately modify the protagonist’s behaviour.

Using a minimalist set of a bar, bar stool, some tables in the audience, and different lighting choices, the play revolves around Howard’s performance, which is very compelling. He inhabits characters beyond the protagonist, including an aloof doctor, various friends, and most memorably, an older ‘ugly man’ that encourages the hedonistic revelry of alcohol and sex, portrayed as a hunched caricature of neanderthal manhood. Each of these personas is brought vividly to life and moments of introspection or drunkenness for the protagonist are well performed, with each character believable.

With Ramiro Batista’s direction ensuring that Howard engages the entire room, his monologue is expressive and the interplay with the audience pushes against the boundaries of a one-man show. Audience members on tables in front of the stage – presumably the performer’s friends – are impelled to interact, they don fancy dress, do tequila shots, or assist in Howard chugging milk through a funnel. This natural interplay, which appeared partially improvised, provided genuinely funny moments that were exceptionally well received by the audience, the majority of whom seemed to know Howard.

However, as a result of this shared background between writer-actor and audience, at times Jock felt like being at a class reunion for a university you hadn’t attended, or a best man speech at a wedding of someone you don’t know. Many of the characters elicited uproarious responses from the audience, which I assume is due to the fact they were identifiable people, and there are jokes that we did not have the context to fully understand. Nevertheless, in his interactions with the audience, Howard’s charisma and charm is most clearly demonstrated, teasing performances out of his friends and improving the material as a result. It would be interesting to see this performance with a different audience to make a clearer assessment of the quality of the work, without the feeling that we were missing part of the joke.

Jock is an interesting, if imperfect, examination of predatory twenty-first century masculinity held together by a strong performance. It is at times very funny, capitalising on Howard’s skill as an actor, and the personal insights into the cyclical nature of abuse within sports teams are worthy but perhaps lack the depth to be truly profound.

JOCK

★★½

Golden Goose Theatre

JOCK at the Golden Goose Theatre

★★½

“an interesting, if imperfect, examination of predatory twenty-first century masculinity held together by a strong performance”