Robert O’Hara is a tease. In this exhilarating tragicomedy, the writer is always several fleet-footed steps ahead. A nervous delight results from his total control of the stage, as he lets us flounder in entertained bafflement before gradually handing us subtle, playful reveals. First staged in New York in 2014, Bootycandy is the kind of play you cannot imagine working as any other art form. Alive and lively, it is deliciously unpredictable.
In-the-round at the recently relocated Gate theatre, O’Hara (who directed Jeremy O Harris’s scalding production, Slave Play in New York) feeds us a collection of fragmented scenes that rocket in wildly different directions, all looping around violence and desire. At the centre is Sutter, played by Prince Kundai, who is luminous as the character grows from an overexcited child to a hurt and hardened adult, his eyes fixed firmly on revenge.
