Ambika Mod delivers a riveting performance in Sophia Chetin-Leuner's bold new play at the Royal Court theatre, exploring the grim compulsion of pornography addiction. The drama follows Ani, a 30-year-old academic undone by her habit, which has already cost her a relationship and leads to a painful confrontation with her father.
The play toggles between digital and physical worlds, emphasising the seductive instant gratification of the internet. Director Josie Rourke and designer Yimei Zhao transform the small upstairs theatre into a padded den, staged in the round, where Ani hides her laptop in the cushioned floor. The vulva-like design becomes a cocoon for her ritual, but also a vortex evoking Milton's Paradise Lost.
Ani is a Milton scholar, and the drama tackles notions of lost innocence, sexual politics, and the ethical question of separating art from the author's behaviour. The pornography on screen is shown abstractly, matched by Helen Skiera's distorted score. The play balances tragedy, horror, and comedy, with a particularly painful scene where Ani's boyfriend holds her phone while she masturbates.
Will Close, Lizzy Connolly, and Asif Khan deftly handle multiple supporting roles, with movement direction by Wayne McGregor. The play's strands tie together in climactic speeches between Ani and her father, a persuasive ending that confirms Chetin-Leuner as a clear-sighted chronicler of relationships, not least with ourselves.
