Setting up a new theatre can be a perilous thing. But Second Skin’s refurbishment of Ryan’s Bar in Stoke Newington is applauded by a hoard of rosy faces on this, its first official night. What makes it even more special is director Andy McQuade’s willingness to be experimental with his choice, staging Mario Vargas Llosa’s La Chunga - an interwoven play about fantasy and disgust in backwater Peru.
The title refers simultaneously to a bar and its owner. Chunga is a lesbian and her opponent is a seedy pimp, Joesfino, who slimes in with his cronies El Mono and Lituma every night. When Josefino’s amour Meche arrives, whom he has every intention of converting into one of his “whores”, her beauty commands Chunga to save her by any means necessary. The narrative is then shattered into discordant shards of erotic desire, the past and the present, where the lines of reality begin to blur. And for that this drama is urgent and addictive.
McQuade’s smart control allows Victoria Grove’s husky Chunga to tower above the barflies. With every subtle flick of her hair or hands, they can’t help but scurry to her attention like cockroaches to sugar. It’s a remarkable turn, pitted against Patrick W Doherty’s Josefino, Corin Rhys Jones’ Lituma and Marco Aponte’s El Mono, each bringing a subtle and mature humour to their significantly depraved “superstuds”.
Nika Khitrova also finds a superb balance with her Meche - yes she may appear a weak object of desire, but, like the audience, she’s also driven to experience something new with willing enthusiasm.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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