Penetrator draws in the typical crowd of twenty-somethings expecting a bit more vulgarity and shock factor in their theatre – and it delivers precisely that. Considered as one of the first contributions to ‘in-yer-face’ theatre when it was first performed in London in 1994, the play’s revival  is described as remaining as socially relevant and disturbingly watchable as it was nearly twenty five years ago.

Phil Croft’s staging brings the play straight into the twenty first century and ensures it retains its immersive quality as well as its humour. When entering the space at the beginning of the show, Tadge is already on stage repeatedly trying to thumb a lift. The traffic noises create a tense and unsettling atmosphere for audience members and this is maintained throughout by use of soundscape and lighting. What seems like the warped audio from a porn film is then played as we watch Tadge almost climax over his fantasies (appropriately stood over Max) with the scene then switching to Max masturbating to online porn on the sofa. Judging by the scenarios that these boys are turned on by, it is immediately clear that sex and violence are closely related in the world they live in.

The black box space is transformed by Rachel Brennan into a filthy, squalid flat – complete with beer bottles, drugs, porn, semen filled tissues, Nerf guns and teddies. Although slightly unoriginal, the set is realistic. The flat is occupied by unemployed best friends Alan and Max, and the narrative follows them receiving a visit from their old school friend and ex-squaddie Tadge. Dark and twisted events whilst in the army means that Tadge’s personality is almost unrecognisable. Although it appears an unlikely friendship, Alexander Pardy’s portrayal of the disgusting, lazy, misogynist Max contrasts well with the Naïve and seemingly more polite Alan (Jolyon Price). Tom Manning’s portrayal of the deeply disturbed Tadge however, steals the show. You would never guess that all three actors, as well as the director, are only recently out of drama school.

Penetrator is a social commentary, which shows how forward thinking Anthony Nielson truly was in the way he addresses topics such as repressed homosexuality and homophobia, the sex obsessed society we live in and issues surrounding drugs, violence and trauma. At times the play feels vulgar just for the sake of it and a little bizarre, particularly in the case of Alan’s teddies that are spoken to as people, used in sex and drug related role play and eventually sliced apart by Tadge.

As we learn of Tadge’s time with the ‘Penetrators’ – a group of people who kept him in a dark room, drugged him and repeatedly sexually abused him – the play gets increasingly dark, although as an audience we are never sure whether Tadge’s story is true. His mental health declines as his sociopathy increases, culminating in a violent attack towards Alan, who, because he appears gay, Tadge believes to be one of the ‘Penetrators’. The plays progression sees Tadge’s homophobic behaviour being due to the repression of his own homophobic thoughts and by the end of the play the sexual orientation of all three characters is questioned.

In a world which they’ve filled with violence, drugs, crude behaviour and childish interactions with Alan’s teddy bears it is unsurprising that the boys have neglected accepting their own sexual identity and that reality and morality have both become extremely warped.

Penetrator is playing The Hope Theatre until 22 August. For more information and tickets, see The Hope Theatre website. Photo by The Hope Theatre.