As addictions go, porn used to be considered bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, perhaps even just a false cover for lasciviousness. It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as heroin or alcohol, says Ani, the protagonist played by Ambika Mod in Sophia Chetin-Leuner’s daring new Porn Play. But the problem isn’t just the amount of porn Ani watches but the nature of it: extremely violent and misogynistic. “It’s fake!” she bites back when her boyfriend (Will Close) expresses concern. Over the next 100 minutes, the line between fantasy and reality wears thin.
What is most refreshing about Chetin-Leuner’s play is that there are no easy answers. The porn addict at its heart is not some middle-aged man living with his mum, but a young female academic on the rise. She’s smart and funny. She’s a feminist: Ani is clued up on sexually transmitted diseases; she has open dialogue with her boyfriend about their sex life; she hates the masturbatory term “beat one out”. It’s this that allows her to run circles around her boyfriend when he expresses genuine concern, which she takes as a policing of her desires and a side effect of his fragile male ego. Ani refuses to face the real-life consequences of her online life – or what her predilection says about her views on herself and other women.
