The Stage

Mercury Fur

Published Thursday 18 February 2010 at 14:50 by Francesca Whiting

Featuring harrowing scenes of child abuse and torture, Philip Ridley’s 2005 play was so controversial that even his publishers refused to print it.

It is set in a post-apocalyptic version of London’s East End, where terror, gangs, violence and drugs in the form of butterflies rule.

On arrival at the venue in central London, the audience are led up some steps and into a gloomy, deserted school house, containing old pieces of furniture.

Here we are introduced to Elliot (Matt Granados) and his younger brother Darren (Chris Urch), who are preparing the room for a party, which, we gradually learn, will involve the torture of a young boy.

Elliott and Darren make money from holding parties for wealthy clients, where their darkest fantasies are brought to life.

And so ensues two hours of non-stop action that finally poses the question of just how far the characters are willing to go to save themselves and those they love.

Robbed of their memories and any narrative to their life, the characters believe the Second World War was caused by Kennedy fighting Hitler over Marilyn Monroe, while language has lost its meaning and simple tasks such as putting a throw over a sofa seem absurd.

Convincing performances from the whole cast ensure you are quickly and, somewhat unwillingly, drawn into this nightmarish world, but despite moments of tenderness between the characters, it is hard to really care about any of them, apart from the young Naz (Mikey Bharj) and the child Party Piece (Jack Sweeney). It is crammed with horrifying images and stories, and although some of this action takes place off stage, the audience can still hear the blood-curdling screams, while the melodrama that ensues touches on the ridiculous and becomes almost laughable, begging the question, just how necessary is such violence?

It’s hard not to draw comparisons with Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic story The Road, recently made into a film, which unlike Mercury Fur, does hold a glimmer of hope - that the father and son were not prepared to torture others in order to survive.

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