One to watch: Volporne XXX

After speaking to Katie Ebner-Landy and Barney Iley-Williamson of Heck, the Tab recommends that you keep your eye on this collective and go and see Volporne XXX.


Expect a lot of this production.

Images by Lauren Magee

Expect porn, and the 80s.  Heck have chosen to set their version of Ben Jonson’s play in the 80s porn industry, with the eponymous Volpone fashioned as a ‘Venice Beach’ big shot “with his best years behind him”. But not poorly choreographed touching and awkward grunting nor just crimped hair, blue eyeshadow and neon leggings.

The setting is not gratuitous – it aims to make this 17th Century comedy accessible, and this is also not to say that Heck want to patronise us – they are not assuming that we were not able to understand the play it its original context. Instead, they merely want to help us access a particular reading of the text which is best brought out in this “lurid” world.

Expect a live band onstage, with music from Nathan Klein (whose music was the best part of ‘The Mountain Giants’ production which took place at the O’Reilly in 4th week) as Volporne XXX rejects the ease of just relying on a soundtrack of Blondie and Prince to set the tone.

Expect a clever, playful set with pretty exciting lighting (watch the video below and if Dougie Perkins screwing in those lightbulbs doesn’t get you hyped, we’re not sure what kind of lighting arrangement will).

The Tab agreed with Heck when they said, “pretending is silly” – there is no point trying to deny that theatre sets are ultimately impressionistic – so let’s create a set that is stylised in such a way as to embrace the theatre space whilst championing the themes of the play and the intention of the production. Let’s not pretend, let’s create.

Although some might accuse Volporne XXX of going for an easy sell – “stick XXX in the title and you are bound to shift tickets” – as a group they’ve been working hard on their marketing and they remind us that pornography, like many of the characters in the play, knows a thing or two about artifice and deception.

They told The Tab that a local news source was disappointed when they answered the question ‘so, how naked do they get on stage?’. Don’t expect nudity but please expect a lot of this production, and no matter what your verdict, appreciate the thought that went into the project.

Heck’s adaptation of Ben Jonson’s ‘Volpone’ takes place this week at 7.30pm at the Keble O’Reilly Wednesday to Saturday, with a Saturday matinee performance at 2.30pm.

For more details and to book tickets check out their website here.