From the first moment, it enthrals, excites, inspires, takes the breath away, puts the heart in the mouth, charms & captivates, with its incomparable savoir-faire.
Kosky’s mix of explicit sex and violence affects the subconscious as much, or more than the intellect. The power of Poppea is not so much emotional, but visceral.
There are no ups or downs, highs or lows in this anti-tragedy, just the usual bumps that eventually become the grind of a play devoid of any substance.
The only two things we know about Thom for sure are that his dog was electrocuted when he was a young boy wearing a cowboy outfit and his girlfriend has just left him.
Contradiction, conundrum, conflict, racism, misogyny and homophobia run through this play like a main circuit cable snaking through a moral minefield of explosive allegation.
Following the unedifying edict that "there's a sucker born every minute", the show skewers the modern self-improvement economy in a piss-take parody of today's 'gurus' and snake-oil salesmen.