RODNEY BLACK: WHO CARES? IT’S WORKING

Arcola Theatre

★★

“a deliberately hard watch”

The fickleness of fame has long been documented. Holding onto the beast that is success, in a world where your five minutes is dwindling to a 30-second TikTok, has become almost unachievable. The market is saturated, attention spans are shorter, and careers can be cancelled in an instant. According to Rodney Black, “This is the worst time in history for the straight, white male.”

The cosy, familiar safety that usually settles over an audience as the lights dim is short-lived in this disturbing, confrontational production by the female-led Full Frontal Theatre. The stage, paired with bold blue lighting, evokes the atmosphere of a late-night comedy club. The only things missing are the smell of stale beer and the ambiguous moisture that clings to the walls. Lucky for us, we have just the host to provide that queasy feeling: enter comedian Rodney Black.

Rodney (Ben Willows) takes centre stage, armed with a stand-up microphone. He receives a few chuckles during his introduction before eagerly launching into a routine of misogynistic, homophobic, racist, and ableist jokes. The room quickly descends into uncomfortable silence as audience members squirm and grimace. Despite the cold reception, Willows is sharp and direct, laughing where the audience doesn’t. He impressively maintains the pace, a difficult tightrope to walk while performing a medium that relies on interaction, in a production that urges viewers not to engage.

Written by Sadie Pearson, Rodney Black: Who Cares? It’s Working is a deliberately hard watch. Through Rodney, she delivers a stand-up routine that describes graphic sexual violence towards women with a wink and a smile. It’s not funny, it’s not subtle: it’s exposure therapy. “It’s just a joke,” Rodney cries, but Pearson makes it clear this is no laughing matter.

There’s a direct correlation between the aggression in Rodney’s act and the success he gains, culminating in a particularly brutal joke describing how he would mutilate a woman. After this gig, a male ‘superfan’ attacks and murders a female audience member, following Black’s routine to the letter. Supported by Hen Ryan’s punchy, reactive direction, chaos ensues as Rodney’s equally vile manager (Bertie Taylor-Smith) goes into hyperdrive trying to minimise the media fallout.

The problem is that Rodney is simply too one-dimensional to imagine having this much impact. His routine is uncomfortable, not appalling. There’s insufficient contrast between his on- and off-stage personas to suggest it’s just an act. Repulsive as he may be, we never understand who Rodney is or what drives him to make people laugh. His manager offers no alternative view, equally small-minded and wetter than the snowflakes he mocks. In trying to represent an important issue, these characters become conceptual.

The unnamed Woman (Merida Beasley) is a constant presence, haunting the stage and probing the narrative. She repeatedly reminds us of the horrors the victim endured: an arm broken in three places, a dislocated jaw. These are the most powerful moments in Pearson’s heavy-handed play, but they are few and far between. There’s too much focus on Black’s offensive performance, the very thing it aims to denounce. In attempting to draw a parallel between cancel culture and violence against women, the premise becomes convoluted, landing more as a statement on media literacy and internet safeguarding than anything else.

In a world where ‘art’ has become synonymous with ‘content’, it’s harder to determine what is an act and what is truth. Creators chase viral moments, while disingenuous ragebait fuels engagement. Rodney Black: Who Cares? It’s Working challenges its audience to recognise that just as actions have consequences, words can too.

RODNEY BLACK: WHO CARES? IT’S WORKING

★★

Arcola Theatre

RODNEY BLACK: WHO CARES? IT’S WORKING

Arcola Theatre

★★

“a deliberately hard watch”