NSFW at Round House: A raunchy, biting satire with brains and surprising heart (review)

Ripped from the pages of Maxim and Cosmopolitan, Round House Theatre’s rollicking satire “NSFW” offers a timely, raunchy, and deeply affecting look at the media’s objectification of women. It begs the question: Does the media create the problem, or do they just exploit our own bad habits?

Already a massive hit on London stages, NSFW crosses the pond with playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s savage wit and societal snark fully intact. Her biting takes on “Barely legal”, “Worst beach body”, “Who wore it best”, and other damaging media tropes translate well to the American theater. After all, the Brits may have invented tabloids, but our main global export is Hollywood and all the impossible beauty standards that come with it.

Director Meredith McDonough has married a game cast and inspired design to breathe life into Kirkwood’s vision of contrasting magazines linked by the same twisted attitudes. Appropriately, the first image you see when you enter the theater is indeed “Not Safe For Work”. The play opens in the offices of the fictional Doghouse magazine, a “lad mag” like Maxim or Stuff, with walls covered with scantily clad and topless photo spreads. Danny Gavigan, playing fratty trust fund brat Rupert, sprawls across a beanbag while Laura C. Harris, playing responsible, prim writer Charlotte, looks on disapprovingly. The two are staff writers under charismatic editor Aidan, played with sly, ruthless charm by James Whalen. Brandon McCoy rounds out the office as the hapless Sam, an academically gifted but professionally clueless assistant.

The four debate upcoming assignments, including laughable “Man Challenges” like living in the Arctic wilderness and eating only meat for six weeks. The arrival of the long-awaited “Local Lovely” issue brings celebration from the men and quiet eye-rolling from Charlotte, until a fateful phone call spoils their little party. When their cover model’s age and consent is cast into doubt, Rupert launches into a stream of sophomoric musings while Sam hyperventilates and babbles like a lunatic. Gavigan and McCoy play off each other as an engaging millennial Odd Couple.

After the two men leave, Aidan and Charlotte are left to deal with a legal quagmire when the cover model’s distraught father Mr. Bradshaw swings into town. Todd Scofield reveals a transfixing blend of anger, regret, and shame as a hard luck man rapidly losing touch with his child. He spars with Aidan over the morality and legality of the magazine, exposing painful truths about personal choice and women’s portrayals in the media. The two men’s captivating battle of wits tips back and forth until both are exhausted, red faced, and chastened. The confrontation could stand alone as a satisfying short play – only Kirkwood isn’t done with the audience yet.

In a whiz-bang transition set to strobes and thumping club music, the scene flips from Doghouse’s bachelor pad office to the sleek home of Elektra magazine – all clean lines and high fashion design. Scenic Designer Tony Cisek has outdone himself in building a dual purpose set that houses such diametrically opposite worlds.

When the lights come up again, Deborah Hazlett is seated at a stylish desk, playing “Devil Wears Prada”-esque editor Miranda. Miranda is an ice queen who buries her own insecurities beneath infectious laughter and booze, and Hazlett steps into the role like a pair of comfortable heels. Sam, having been canned as a scapegoat in the Doghouse incident, enters for a brutal job interview. Any idea that a women’s magazine might be more considerate and egalitarian goes out the window as Miranda starts badgering Sam about the flaws of supermodels and then his own girlfriend. It’s funny and painful to watch Sam squirm as he balances his ideals against his need for a paycheck, while Miranda peers on like a lioness stalking a wounded antelope.

NSFW is to lifestyle media what Silicon Valley is to the tech sector: a biting caricature that uses big laughs and painful truth to slice at the heart of our biggest societal hypocrisies (in this case – women’s unattainable beauty standards). Look past the “titillating” Doghouse decor and banter, and you’ll find as sharp and well-acted a piece of satire as you’re likely to find on either side of the Atlantic.

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NSFW by Lucy Kirkwood . Directed by Meredith McDonough . Featuring Danny Gavigan, Laura C. Harris, Deborah Hazlett, Brandon McCoy, Todd Scofield, and James Whalen . Scenic Design: Tony Cisek . Costume Design: Frank Labovitz . Lighting Design: Paul Toben . Sound Design: Eric Shimelonis . Produced by Round House Theatre . Reviewed by Ben Demers.