Of all the plays thus far at the 2023 Vault Festival with content warnings, this gut-punch work by Tobia Rossi is the first I’ve seen to absolutely warrant one. What may begin as a sweet, if slightly troubling, burgeoning romance will curdle and cascade by end into an altogether different creature, shocking and upsetting. The material blindsides the audience with a quick, brutal and sickening descent into the most bottomless bleak, a viewer emerging thoroughly shaken & stirred. Dispassionate response is an impossibility. Never feeling egregious or exploitive in its extreme reach, Rossi skilfully transmits every action as a convincing part of a savage, despairing world view. 

15-year-old Gio has run away from home and town, a long-standing victim of a cruel campaign of homophobic bullying (his recounting of an instance of being forced to lick a floor, remembering the indelibly foul taste, is chilling). He has secluded himself in a cave where he is eking out an existence built upon a few provisions and a lot of resourcefulness. Into his carefully curated and solitary world crashes fellow student Mirko, out supposedly on a photography expedition snapping pictures of wildlife in the local woods. Their first encounter is shadowed, only Mirko’s mobile light dimly lighting the room. It is left to viewer interpretation if he has merely stumbled upon this domicile or intentionally found his way there or, if by some metaphysical principle Gio has called him forth. His attempts to coax Gio out are fuelled by the parlance of self-help guides, affirmations of self-worth and motivation. He will use these nuggets in his own life, he states, to propel himself to success. 

Initially suspicious of one another’s intentions, a rough-hewn affection grows between the boys. They study each other with thoughtful consideration. Mirko returns regularly to visit Gio. Each time, he brings items that add a bit more dimension to Gio’s surroundings (including a battery-operated string of lights that softly, cheerfully illuminate the stony space). It is clear from these gestures that Mirko has developed feelings, perhaps beyond what he can fully fathom. Is he there out of guilt, concern, lust, curiosity, envy, respect? Or all at once? Quite in spite of himself, sexual desire grips him. Rossi imbues the environment with tremendous psychological power-it vibrates as refuge, experiment, cage. An arena of utopian play. A separate, but doomed, universe in which two people can create their own society outside the limiting laws and briefs of the greater world. 

Being a generational work, social media-and its insidious influence-plays a large role, nearly a third character. Ego drives much of the behaviour. One of Gio’s first requests to Mirko is to find out how many views his last TikTok post has amassed, and what wild speculation as to his fate has been reported in the media. He wants, in a way, to be an item of attention. As the boys drift further into schemes, the danger increases and stakes get higher. A beholden Gio crafts ways in which Mirko’s online profile may heighten in relation to his proximity to Gio’s disappearance, discovering clues (it starts innocently enough with a piece of his clothing, then graduates to something much more serious). It will be a way for Mirko to regain his standing with his friends and catch the eye of the girl he he claims to fancy. In this world, the greatest fear and humiliation is in being left out of a WhatsApp group.

It’s at this stage that the script takes a dark turn and fearlessly free falls down a perverse path. Gio, with almost masochistic devotion, submits to Mirko’s most extreme requests (in fact, he wilfully collaborates). He speaks, quite stirringly, of a superhero fantasy in which he ecstatically submits to a dominant personality (Green Lantern, in this case). A turned-on Mirko, visibly registering his thrill, inventories all the cues and seduces Gio accordingly upon his next visit. The actors, Issam Al Ghussain and Nico Cetrulo, are to be commended for their commitment to the material as they barrel towards the squeamish finish. They create quite a heat between the boys, both in the gentle beginnings and the almost Grand Guignol ending. Both performers fiercely communicate the tangle of torment and allure that binds the young men. Director Carlotta Brentan equally maintains an intensity across the 75-minutes in both the quiet and clamorous moments.

By conclusion, the boys have switched sides. Gio, ‘enlarged’ by the certainty and protectiveness of Mirko’s love, is ready to march back to town and resume life, while Mirko, despondent and anguished of being able to be accepted would rather Gio and he remain underground in their hidden lair. His is a self-discovery that cannot be countenanced. A reveal too risky. The resolution will not be kind.

Gio speaks in his final post of aspiring to an ethereal state of ‘luminous being’ with a partner, lifted off earth in a ‘pure state of love’, disembodied. It is this state achieved by end but at greatest cost. This impassioned, scathing treatise on the subject of inclusivity, civility, and responsibility on both personal and societal levels rips impolitely through all manner of insincere and hypocritical proclamations. 

Read more of Tom’s reviews here!

{🎟 AD – PR invite – Tickets were gifted in exchange for an honest review}

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