The Bechdel Test is, famously, a test to measure the representation of women in film and other art forms by asking how regularly at least two female characters talk about anything other than men. In the case of this new play from Jessie-Wren Jacobs, This Porno Does Not Pass the Bechdel Test has a presumably ironic title. This tragicomedy instead dives deep into the ethics and practice of pornography in the modern age, exposing how women may regularly appear in this content but rarely as fully autonomous people. This Porno is an often hilarious but stark insight into the production and consumption of sexual content, and the gendered power dynamics at play both on and off camera. 

What starts as the chance for one adoring fan to win a night with the esteemed pornstar Lance Hardwood (a fake name, obviously) slowly transforms. Before getting down to anything, Hardwood and his lucky winner engage in prolonged discussions about ethical pornography and his career to date, all leading up to an explosive revelation. Interspersed throughout are monologues from the lucky winner and skits designed to comically explore how conditioned audiences are to pornography’s misogynistic craft. It is a capably performed piece, able to just about balance the seriousness of its subject matter with the comic relief littered throughout it. 

The fact that the play takes place in real-time adds a foreboding sense to what This Porno is building up to; a climax that shatters the divide between online porn’s allure and the reality of gendered violence away from the cameras. It is in many ways terrifying, in others fascinating, and never boring. Both lead performers keenly catch the changes in their characters, and fill each of their respective roles with a suitably unfiltered approach. It helps both of them to feel like down-to-earth figures and caricatures at the same time, which in Hardwood’s case particularly completely changes the audience’s allegiance to him by the time the curtain comes down.

A hard-hitting and engrossing exploration of sex, power, and the internet, This Porno Does Not Pass the Bechdel Test is a superbly written and performed piece that feels like essential viewing for the modern age of the world wide web. It starts as a light and interesting look at sex and pornography before evolving into a blunt and hard-hitting drama, nailing the transition between the two. 

This Porno Does Not Pass the Bechdel Test is at Greenside @ Riddle’s Court – Willow Studio until Sat 24 Aug 2024 at 14:00