Andrew Houghton’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age monologue Naughty had a successful run at the 2021 Camden Fringe. This year’s outing at the Hens and Chicken offers another chance to catch up on some decent writing and a quality performance.
Andrew is a shy, gauche, late blooming 16-year old whose coming out is a little deflated by the fact than everyone around him has known for years that he is gay. Bullied at his Hull school, he finds comfort in evening and weekend classes at a local drama academy, and in the arms of his self-confident, extrovert but not entirely faithful first love, Jake. In need of comfort and shoulder to lean on, Andrew soon gets drawn into a questionable and increasingly unhealthy text friendship with his manipulative and damaged 25 year-old drama teacher, Kevin. But just what are the older man’s intentions?
Houghton has a flair for intimate, naturalistic dialogue, and a talent for creating believable and fully formed characters from just the sketchiest details. His Glaswegian mother, who tries to understand him but struggles with some long-standing personal prejudices, is particularly well drawn. So too is Lucy, the sneering and superior academy head. The performer’s turn as his awkward, geeky younger self is as brave and self-revelatory as it is charming. Ironically perhaps, the only character we never really get a handle on is the sleazy and abusive Kevin, whose motivations for gaslighting the teen feel decidedly one-dimensional. Perhaps Houghton does not want to give a potential abuser a platform. Fair enough, but if so, why do we get to listen to so much from the man? Hearing less from the odious (and tedious) Kevin and more from the interesting Andrew would be welcome. The coming-of-age elements of this show are the most appealing.
There is an odd directorial choice here too. Andrew’s text conversations with Kevin are projected onto a screen situated behind the performer, while simultaneously we hear these same exchanges voiced between Houghton and a pre-recorded actor. The aim of providing identical information, visually and aurally, may be to heighten the shock value of some of the texts. The problem is it sometimes feels like watching the kind of PowerPoint presentation where you have reached bullet point five while the presenter is reading bullet point one. The disconnectedness between spoken and written feels clunky and detracts from, rather than adds to, any feeling of suspense. Still, there is much here to enjoy.
Naughty – Hens and Chickens Theatre, London
Writer: Andrew Houghton
Director: Sami Sumaria
Duration: 60 minutes
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