Theatre review: Red Speedo

Well I didn't have weaponising "You Got It" on my Bingo card of what theatres would try this year, but that's what Matthew Dunster's production of Red Speedo does, replaying the song on a constant loop before the show begins, before ramping up the volume to levels even an Orange Tree matinée audience should have been able to hear. At least it's better than those ten-second sound loops I've had at some shows, and it turns out Roy Orbison's song is such a banger I was still tapping my feet to it by the seventh or eighth repetition. On-topic lyrics aside, I was expecting a reference to this being a motivational aid the protagonist listened to before a race, but nothing so specific transpired to explain the choice. Holly Khan's sound design also goes in for a loud klaxon to mark the start and end of every scene, echoing the way Olympic swimming races are started, and giving the audience an occasional jolt.

It's not something that's needed, to be honest, as Lucas Hnath's sports play manages to ramp up plenty of tension without it. Ray (Finn Cole) is a star swimmer, expected to qualify for the Olympics, but the club's under the shadow of performance-enhancing Testosterone supplements found poorly-hidden in the fridge.

The drugs are believed to belong to one of the other swimmers, but Ray's brother Peter (Ciarán Owens) is trying to persuade the Coach (Fraser James) to hush the whole thing up anyway: Bad publicity for the club in general could reflect badly on Ray, and jeopardise the lucrative sponsorship deal with Speedo that Peter's got lined up if and when he qualifies. I guess it's a spoiler, but not one the audience is unlikely to see coming a mile off, that the drugs are in fact Ray's, but Hnath's play isn't really about performance-enhancing drugs.

Instead it's more about money and corporate sponsorship in sport, and how beyond natural physical ability, success is largely reserved for those who can afford to spend their whole lives training without worrying about a day job. The brothers come from a comparatively humble background and, as Peter isn't a swimmer himself (they don't make the caps big enough) he's made a success of himself as a corporate lawyer - but not without some ethically dodgy practices to get him where he is now.

Those hurt along the way by Peter include Ray's ex-girlfriend Lydia (Parker Lapaine*,) and for all the ethical and professional dilemmas the swimmer should be dealing with, on one level all he cares about is whether this situation can help him make things up to her, and get back together. I can't imagine where an American writer would get the idea for a slightly dim swimmer who just wants to translate a medal into a reality TV career, but it's an interesting way to frame questions over whether drugs are really that different to other advantages, as the rather nice-but-dull Ray genuinely doesn't see a distinction.

Anna Fleischle's set design cleverly manages to get a sliver of actual swimming pool into the small in-the-round space, which helps Dunster's production maintain the sense of the personal drama taking place right where the sporting drama does; as for Cat Fuller's costume design, Cole does indeed spend the entire play wearing only a Speedo, in case anyone was worried about false advertising. His only other major character design element is a huge tattoo that covers his back, and even this is part of the play's cynical approach to how sporting success actually works: Ray got it to ensure he's recognisable even during races, to improve his brand.

So this is a sharp and unforgiving take on modern sports culture, where the least self-serving characters end up being the ones taking or dealing drugs. As well as fitting in with Hnath's love of ethical dilemmas that reject easy solutions or taking of sides, this play also fits in with the writer's tendency for brevity, and if anything Red Speedo might rattle through its themes a little too frantically - the amount of twists and refocusing of the plot are a bit squeezed into the 90 minutes. But overall I'm pleased to say there's plenty worth seeing here above and beyond the budgie Cole's smuggling.

Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath is booking until the 10th of August at the Orange Tree Theatre.

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.

*daughter of Fay Ripley and Daniel Lapaine, whose breakout role was in Australian misery-fest Muriel's Wedding playing... a swimmer doing something dodgy to further his career