If you've seen the films Lars and the Real Girl (2007) or Mannequin (1987), the premise of A Real Doll, which tells the story of a middle-aged man who has a romantic relationship with a sex doll that comes to life, probably won't seem as novel as it's supposed to (nor, for that matter, will the pun in the title).
Throughout the play, writer Theo Merz and director Sophie Duker succeed admirably in staging more than a couple of hilarious moments. Yet the fact that we have at the centre of the play a blow-up buxom babe does not stop many characters being one dimensional and flaccid. We are introduced to Jeffry, the socially inept middle-aged shut-in who works a menial office job and admits to finding more pleasure in plastic dolls than in ‘the real thing'. Don't we all. And then there's Mrs. Patel, the meddling neighbour who suspects something dodgy is going on. With such flat stock personalities, it is often easy to feel that Alicia, the doll, isn't the only character to have come out of a box.
Jeffry is a caricature of worthlessness, and our only interest in him stems from the morbid fascination we get from watching a lonely man pleasure himself in a highly elaborate fashion. Alicia, in animate form, is no less a bimbo than she was before her Frankensteinian emergence. Alicia Lawson, who plays Mrs. Patel, is admittedly enjoyable to watch and infuses her character with such energy and detail that such a stock personality almost seems fresh. Yet mark my use of the word ‘almost'; if the banality of the characters is intended as a device, it's hard to see what purpose it serves.
What A Real Doll lacks in characterisation, however, it makes up for in a black sort of humour that distinguishes it from the aforementioned films where the focus is on poignancy and inanity. In one of the play's funnier scenes, Mrs. Patel wonders aloud to herself about the strange sounds she hears coming from her neighbour's apartment, and describes with aggravated perplexity her perspective on Jeffry's various interactions with Alicia. As the agitation in Mrs. Patel's voice rises, we see Jeffry in the background, writhing in a tangle of bed sheets and plastic limbs until, at the climax of Ms. Patel's monologue, he expels a loud, tremulous grunt as he orgasms into his new purchase, on which he has spent the entire six-thousand pounds of his life savings.
This new piece of writing is definitely worth a look, so long as you don't mind your characters deflated and your humour dark. If you can tear yourself away from your plastic mistress, this comes recommended. And if you might have a bit of a problem with that last bit, bring her along anyway.
three stars out of five
A Real Doll is on at the Burton Taylor, Tuesday-Saturday 5th Week
