Tender review – modern masculinity laid bare in pumped-up strip club drama

Soho theatre, London Directed with swagger and finesse by Matthew Xia, Dave Harris’s play explores sex, pleasure, parenthood and what makes a man There are two kinds of people in the world – those who, given a paddle to signal willingness for audience participation at a play set in a strip club, will raise it high, and then there’s me. The crowd arrived hyped for Dave Harris’s Tender – my neighbour waved her paddle through the pre-show playlist – but it’s not really about rambunctious bump and grind. Instead, Harris delves into modern masculinity: hard bodies, squishy hearts. The Dancing Bears is a down at heel club in New Jersey. Two young dudes and a non-dancing daddy work their teddy-bear heads and neon-green jocks for a dwindling crowd of middle-school teachers and recovering divorcees.

Monster-schlonged rivals are stealing their punters and then Geoff has an onstage panic attack. Continue reading... Review Soho theatre, London Directed with swagger and finesse by Matthew Xia, Dave Harris’s play explores sex, pleasure, parenthood and what makes a man T here are two kinds of people in the world – those who, given a paddle to signal willingness for audience participation at a play set in a strip club, will raise it high, and then there’s me. The crowd arrived hyped for Dave Harris’s Tender – my neighbour waved her paddle through the pre-show playlist – but it’s not really about rambunctious bump and grind. Instead, Harris delves into modern masculinity: hard bodies, squishy hearts.

The Dancing Bears is a down at heel club in New Jersey. Two young dudes and a non-dancing daddy work their teddy-bear heads and neon-green jocks for a dwindling crowd of middle-school teachers and recovering divorcees. Monster-schlonged rivals are stealing their punters and then Geoff has an onstage panic attack. Harris’s incendiary Tambo & Bones also revealed identity as commodity: Blackness as entertainment in the US of A. In Tender, porny showbiz is the entry point to discuss sex, pleasure, parenthood, what makes a man – the play is as packed as a go-go boy’s pouch, even if Harris’s pumped-up writing jiggles similar arguments a few times too often.

Matthew Xia is a director of swagger and finesse. Shelley Maxwell, as choreographer and intimacy director, supports high-definition actors: Dex Lee’s foghorn Geoff, Darren Bennett’s grizzly dad and Kwami Odoom, who, despite impressive core strength on the pole, is baffled when B asks if he actually enjoys sex. Explore more on these topics Share Reuse this content Soho theatre, London Directed with swagger and finesse by Matthew Xia, Dave Harris’s play explores sex, pleasure, parenthood and what makes a man There are two kinds of people in the world – those who, given a paddle to signal willingness for audience participation at a play set in a strip club, will raise it high, and then there’s me. The crowd arrived hyped for Dave Harris’s Tender – my neighbour waved her paddle through the pre-show playlist – but it’s not really about rambunctious bump and grind. Instead, Harris delves into modern masculinity: hard bodies, squishy hearts.

The Dancing Bears is a down at heel club in New Jersey. Two young dudes and a non-dancing daddy work their teddy-bear heads and neon-green jocks for a dwindling crowd of middle-school teachers and recovering divorcees. Monster-schlonged rivals are stealing their punters and then Geoff has an onstage panic attack. Continue reading... Tender review – modern masculinity laid bare in pumped-up strip club drama