Playhouse East - 29th - 30th October
It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a year since my last visit to the Playhouse East, an East London based creative hub founded by James Alexandrou and Avital Love. It’s even stranger to think that my return was prompted by an invitation to see Louis Catliff’s ‘Arsehole’…. Arsehole being the name of the new dark comedy written by, and starring the afore-mentioned Louis Catliff. (What did you think I meant!?) Not knowing exactly what to expect, the strap-line for the play, ‘Magic Mike meets Trainspotting’, doesn’t really help clarify my expectations, and to be honest, even if I had tried to guess what was going to unfold on stage, the benefit of hindsight tells me that I would have been woefully wide of the mark.
The one thing that was patently clear, having been ushered into the performance space by the Theatre’s host, declaring, “The doors are now open for Arsehole”, is that this was not going to be a regular Thursday night, even if Catliff himself appears on stage looking somewhat immaculately dressed head to toe in white. A white suit, white shirt, white tie and white trainers. Whilst already in stark contrast to this black-box theatre space, the sparse set consists only of an equally white foldable chair, mop and bucket, itself also giving precious little away about what was about to be revealed. “You have the audacity to shit on my face”, comes Catliff’s attention grabbing opener. “My rim should be getting kept warm by Kings!”. It’s a bold opener, but one I guess was only to be expected given the equally boldly named play. Everything makes a lot more sense, (well, sort of), when it is revealed early on that Catliff is in fact the embodiment of a porcelain toilet that has become sentient. Created in the 90’s, it has since found itself installed in a Russian Oligarch’s mansion, the owners money somewhat ironically having come from a fertiliser business.
So far, so completely unhinged, Predictable theatre this most definitely is not, and no matter what direction I thought proceedings might have gone from this basic premise, supernatural-political-espionage-thriller was not one of them… but by this stage I was completely on-board with wherever Catliff wanted to take his audience through this fever-dream of an imagination. Once settled in to the style of the piece I could start to admire the skill Catliff has as both story teller and performer. At one point it even feels like we get a first hand glimpse of the writers process as Catliss seems to both muse, and be himself amused, by the realisation that as a sentient, albeit inanimate object that experiences the most intimate interactions with those it comes into contact with, (by design as much as by an ongoing secret mission), it is highly likely that a toilet is probably gender-neutral in terms of those it might find attractive… were it to have the ability to do so… and it does… not only creating yet another unexpected turn to this already highly original play, but also giving Catliff the opportunity to include a love story in the evolving narrative, and as such, Arsehole becomes the gift that just keeps giving.
Does the audience have to get it’s head around the u-bend of disbelief in order to maximise the gift that is Catliss’s highly enjoyable flight of fancy… yes it does, but with Catliff as our guide this is easilly done given his engagingly energetic performance which occasionally bursts through the fourth wall for a bit of audience interaction. Whilst Catliss plays the part throughout for laughs, and is completely self-aware of the ludicrousness of it all, I remained unsure if stepping out of this delightful conceit helped or hindered the audiences ability to suspend their disbelief, and risked tipping the balance of the show more into stand-up territory than performance but, those brief moments aside, Catliff’s Arsehiole remains a joy to watch from beginning to end. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist a final pun!)
★ ★ ★ ★
Arsehole is on at Playhouse East until 30th October 2026.
review: Simon J. Webb