It’s 1985 and we’re in New York’s red light district. There’s nothing extremely exciting about a dimly lit set which greets the audience, oozing in red paint and strobe panels matching in colour, until sex worker Marie (Lauren Fox) enters. The scene is soon full of possibilities: sordid adventures, alienated lost souls and repressed desires.

Marie, an ex-‘spread’ model who now prefers people to think she looks like a good 45-year-old rather than a haggard 35, embodies someone despairingly waiting to see what happens next. In a similar position is David (Peter Tate), an anthropologist examining human sexuality, who begins to visit Marie for academic research. Behind the one-way view of Marie’s glass box, the pair begin to confide in one another.

Norris Church Mailer’s new production boldly begins to peel back its protagonists to their core, illuminating their secrets and regrets. Go See surveys the bewildering nature in which humans can confide instantly with strangers with the security of anonymity.

Against these Samaritan-esque confessions are the personal lives of Marie and David. David, determined to get to the heart of Marie’s economic approach to sex, poses as Paul, a storeowner visiting New York on business. In this parallel meeting, Marie turns herself into Michelle, a middle class Texan quite different to the impoverished past of Marie.

It is now up to the audience to spot the difference in the two stories, and the play quickly becomes a Where’s Wally? of noting discrepancies between what Marie and David confide in one another, and Michelle and Paul. There’s a lot going on, the play boldly brushes upon topics of sexuality, family, class, marriage and midlife in a quick and intimate dialogue. For the most part, it works. In some encounters, deeply moving stories of one another’s past are met with understanding and empathy, and others – particularly those between Paul and Michelle – completely void of honesty.

It’s a quick production (just over an hour long) which struggles to create a bond with its audience. Whilst it touches upon some tricky subjects, it fails to present them with renewed compassion or care. It is Lauren Fox’s gentle yet stoic performance which holds the production together and, although the play can feel insincere, maintains a humane vulnerability that carries Go See.

Go See played at the King’s Head Theatre. For more information, see the King’s Head Theatre website. Photo by Richard Davenport.