Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes | Josie Cross & Stephen Hirst
Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes is a scrumptious theatrical and literary feast which challenges the idea of who gets control in how a personal narrative gets told.
Written by Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch, the story is told by middle-aged lecturer and author, Jon (Stephen Hirst), a quick-witted academic and self-indulgent writer who has had three marriages and is struggling to find a creative spark to write his next novel on lumberjacks. Along comes a nineteen year old undergraduate student in a red coat (Josie Cross), who sits at the front of Jon’s class, is a massive enthusiast of his work and has intelligent opinions on literary thoughts. Cue a sexual relationship that defies the faculty handbook (and our moral handbook) which becomes the source of Jon’s inner moral turmoil yet drives his emotional and creative urges.
All images by Alex Riley.
The entirety of the play is set out like chapters in a book, with chapter titles being projected onto the back wall of the stage on which Jon narrates the affair in past tense as it plays out in present in monologue-form to the audience. As an audience member, this skeletal device from the playwright which director Tim Hill has transferred onto the stage, throws you straight into the narrative and you feel like you’re flipping pages of a book, not sure what fate awaits the characters at the end, but you’re starting to get ideas…
By framing the play from a male lens, Moscovitch is able to use Jon’s entitled masculine quips and his moral contradictions to add layers of depth to a #metoo piece; with the audience bearing witness to his short-lived and fast-forgotten quips in which he acknowledges that what he is doing is wrong, but continues engaging in the relationship. Hirst does a sensational job in playing Jon as a charming, charismatic, yet ethically corrupted man who is suffering from entitled masculinity and using it for his own personal, creative and sexual gain.
All images by Alex Riley.
The emphasis on Jon’s inner thoughts and Hirst’s delivery poses the question of whether it is he who should be telling the story? Why aren’t we hearing the nineteen year old’s side? All of this gets resolved and answered in the most delicious way near the closing of the play. I actually shrieked in my seat and grabbed my friend’s hand in delight. Can you get better writing than that? I’m honestly not sure…
Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes is a gripping drama that instead of spoon-feeding the audience answers about #metoo, sexuality, power and toxic masculinity, embraces the more complicated question: who gets to control the narrative.
