One of the Boys
It's a man's world, and stale pale males are at the top, ensuring the women they sexualise and diminish cannot topple their tower.
One of the Boys depicts a corporate world with misogynistic behaviour that many people know is unacceptable, apart from the characters in Tim Edge’s new play. Edge has written a show where the women are stuck behind abusive male managers who threaten to destroy their careers if they don't get their way. Yet the women do nothing about it, speak to no one outside the company or even rally behind each other for support. There is no girl power in this superficially feminist play.
Although the play touches on some powerful topics, including maternity leave, home/life balance, and age, these all feel outdated. It might have had more impact if this show had been done five years ago. Ten or more years, and it may have been considered revolutionary. However, seeing a cast that seemed to lack much diversity talk about the struggles of women in a masculine workplace was unfortunately too obvious and bland.
This is not to diminish the clear gender gap in society, especially in managerial positions. Instead, the play explores this theme in an unoriginal and uninspiring way, leaving the audience thinking, "Yeah... We know."
This said, the cast was dedicated to their roles well, with Jess Gough as a standout. She displayed many emotions, which some of the other characters' writing lacked. Her performance was a great instigator, and she made the scenes she was in more interesting than what was written for them. This was particularly impressive as writer Edge provides little for the actors to interpret, with many missing backstories or any real development outside the cliché trope they were portraying.
The set design was clever and practical for the various office scenes and even worked well to depict some outside locations. However, Lydia McKinley’s direction let this down. Considering the set was nothing dramatic, a couple of simple tables and chairs, all on wheels, could easily have been moved in more exciting, engaging and relevant ways. Unfortunately, the basic transitions also featured dimly lit movement, reminiscent of a high school drama production.
Something that must be mentioned is the great video design by Helena Hipolito, which gave us key timestamps throughout the show. This blended well with the lighting design by Edward Saunders, which created an immersive scene with subtle changes. Often, these projections were used during the transitions and blackouts, generating much-needed context for what followed.
When delivering an 89-minute one-act play, there must be enough drive to maintain an audience's interest, which One of the Boys needed more. With a simplistic plot, predictable ending, and lack of depth, there wasn't much that made this show relevant to a 2024 audience.
As a show designed to empower women and highlight how toxic the patriarchy is, the characters - of multiple genders - stuck to the stereotypes so much that it was difficult to understand if there was supposed to be some irony. Particularly when a woman is gaslit to look hysterical... later acts hysterically in response.
Ultimately, One of the Boys was a run-of-the-mill play with nothing new to say. It could have been a great play to see five years ago; however, there isn't enough there to make it relevant to a modern audience.
This show was reviewed on the 3rd October 2024 at the Playground Theatre, London where the show runs until the 27th October 2024. Tickets available here: ONE OF THE BOYS | 1 - 27 OCTOBER - Theatre (theplaygroundtheatre.org.uk)
Review written by Ryan Lenney
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Photo credit: Craig Fuller
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You can watch our interview with Miriam Grace Edwards from the cast here: https://youtu.be/Vyw-ZXw9e6M?si=kKiedA_mVblijelU
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