GScene: Edinburgh Festival Review: Really Want To Hurt Me ★★★★★. By James Ledward
Posted on 9 August 2018
“Ryan Price is truly electric"
Box office: 020 7978 7040
Flaming Theatre in association with Theatre503 presents...
£10 Adult Standard
RUNNING TIME / NOTICES: 70 Minutes (no interval). Suitable for ages 14yrs+.
Devon, 1984. Constant pressure to be straight and act ‘masculine’. School bullies. Teenage heartache. Suicidal self-hatred. That accidental first orgasm with your best mate. Trying to tape the Top 40 off the radio without the DJ talking over the songs. Dancing defiantly to your Walkman to stay alive. A long time ago… But have things actually changed all that much? Do you really want to hurt me?
This “dark comedy with dance sequences” returns to Theatre503 after an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run, featuring a classic soundtrack of Culture Club, Eurythmics, Tears for Fears, The Smiths, Kate Bush and more. It’s about escaping into the joys of music like your life depends on it – because in a way, it actually does.
Flaming Theatre’s previous work includes Jarman Garden (Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award finalist), a multimedia, devised production about artist Derek Jarman, at Riverside Studios. Really Want To Hurt Me has been developed with support from Arts Council England and Soho Theatre Young Company.
Ben SantaMaria
Ben’s work has appeared at Soho Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Assembly Hall in Edinburgh and ARC Stockton. He also took part in the NT Studio Directors' Course and has been an Assistant Director at The Globe, Howard Barker’s Wrestling School and Kali Theatre. His recent directing work includes After Orlando, at Theatre Royal Stratford East and The Vaults. Ben's play Deathcamp [Homeland Jingle] was published in The Dionysian. His book, Cruising Culture, is available from Edinburgh University Press.
“Ryan Price is truly electric"
"there is a warmth, honesty and heart to this play that makes it feel fresh and original... a keenly observed and worthy documentation of what it was like to be a gay teenager in Britain in the mid eighties... showcases a writer and an actor excelling at their craft."
“this play is pure honesty – plain and simple. It is packed to the brim with nostalgia and memories that will twang on your heart-strings.”
"SantaMaria’s text is rich in humour, but richer still in (often uninhibited) truth"
"Price delivers a stunning performance of a troubled young man who has a lot of questions about himself"
“Funny and uneasy in equal measure, this quietly beautiful show is one not to be missed."
