The Sperm Monologues
| 14 Aug 2006
The premise for this piece of theatre is fantastic. Unfortunately, the play itself is not. The idea is simple: sperm donors are invited to leave a recorded message, or monologue, for their unborn child to see when they turn eighteen, offering words of wisdom and encouragement to their future offspring. From underage school kids, to broke students, gay men, cockney geezers, and magicians, every donor offers a two minute sound-bite on life, love and the universe for their lucky progeny to savour.
Unfortunately very few of these future fathers had any depth or credibility as a character, owing to the fact that they were only allowed two minutes in the limelight. As a result the excitable footballer and camp Italian became caricatures, capable only of peddling clichés, rather than offering any interesting insights into the male psyche. The humour was trite, and moments of heightened emotion were on the whole dampened by the fact that the characters lacked complexity. This is a disappointing showcase of bland writing, which lacks coherence other than as a compendium of clichés.
Unfortunately very few of these future fathers had any depth or credibility as a character, owing to the fact that they were only allowed two minutes in the limelight. As a result the excitable footballer and camp Italian became caricatures, capable only of peddling clichés, rather than offering any interesting insights into the male psyche. The humour was trite, and moments of heightened emotion were on the whole dampened by the fact that the characters lacked complexity. This is a disappointing showcase of bland writing, which lacks coherence other than as a compendium of clichés.