1972: The Future of Sex at Bristol Old Vic

It’s 1972 and it’s a time of sexual liberation. Everyone is ‘at it’, everyone is having masses of erotic and sensual encounters and drug induced free love is the thing. Well, this is what our rather over-exuberant narrator tells us at the beginning of the show, but the band of slightly awkward and reticent teenagers portrayed and lined up on the stage in front of us suggests that this might not quite be the case…

 1972: The Future of Sex by The Wardrobe Ensemble toured around the UK after first showing in 2015. I had heard great things about it so I was really pleased to see it returning to Bristol and coming to the Weston Studio at the Bristol Old Vic. The show is only an hour long, but manages to pack in as much as some much longer pieces into its full, lively, engaging, funny and thought provoking 60 minutes. We follow the stories of four characters that are beginning to explore their sexuality in different ways. Penny is drawn to her radical sociology teacher Martin who appears exotic and intelligent but in the end proves to be far less liberated that she was hoping. Anna is jolted out of a normal, dull family night in front of the TV by Ziggy Stardust appearing on Top of the Pops, and whilst searching for his music in a record shop she is drawn to fellow customer and fan Tessa. Christine has decided she is ready to sleep with boyfriend Rich. Trouble is, she isn’t totally sure what that involves, so she watches some porn to try and figure it all out. (Deepthroat, naturally. Uh oh) Anton is also drawn to David Bowie and is beginning to question his gender and sexual identity. But will he be able to reveal his true self to the world? There is also Brian. We don’t know much about Brian. Brian is confused…

I really enjoyed this show, it was light hearted enough to make for an enjoyable theatre experience but with just enough thought provoking stuff to keep me thinking about the show in the following days. What comes across strongly in all of this is the universal awkwardness and excruciatingly exciting and nerve wracking feelings connected to the characters and their first sexual encounters; its something that probably most of the audience can relate to, regardless of when their own sexual awakening was or how it panned out. I thought the choreography used to represent the sexual acts themselves was incredibly clever, hinting at what was going on without going too over the top. The breathlessness of it all as they lay on the stage in post coital bliss was fabulously evocative of the aftermath of the frantic (and occasionally unfulfilling) joining together. The energy of this show was high throughout, which made the moments of quiet poignancy such as Anton deciding if he was going to come out to his father even more striking.

The show also comments on sex and relationships as they are today, and the even thornier issues that the generation coming up has to face. Internet pornography is easily and widely accessible to young people, and is likely skewing their ideas on what normal, fulfilling sexual lives should look like. We have come a long way since the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, which is a good thing, but maybe I just feel a little sad for a generation who will have seen a startlingly wide range of porn and be blasé about it before they have even had their first kiss.

Thank you Wardrobe Ensemble, you made me laugh out loud and feel like going back and telling my 16 year old self that it was all going to be OK in the end. 1972: the Future of Sex is on until Saturday 11th May at Bristol Old Vic and you really should catch it if you can. If nothing else, you have to see what this lot can do with a couple of space hoppers…

Review by Karen Blake

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