...GOOD...WEIRD...WEIRDER!

Saw some plays today (not uncommon for a drama student one would hope (Actually! I'm going to have to stop saying 'one' because everybody takes the piss!!! I'm sorry if my idiolect involves the correct use of personal pronouns! Bullies!)). We saw the level 3 folk move about a lot. That's quite a fair summary methinks. The plays were 'Numbers' (Good), 'We do it to ourselves' (Weird), and 'Cache' (Weirder!!). I'll be honest, this post is mostly going to be about 'Numbers' because I liked it most.

Also, slight interruption, I realise nobody reads this, but I'm posting more often!! Dude!! Be impressed!

'Numbers' essentially focused on the question 'How many people have you slept with'? It went over how some experiences (They replaced words like 'hold' and 'chest' with numbers, and I was so thinking of worse things than 'hold' when she was saying it!) were routine, the casual fuck that means nothing. They also had recordings of people discussing sexual encounters (real people, one of the voices was recognised. A girl talking about a time 'when [she] was still straight' and spent the night with a girl. There were a handful of sidewards glances and mouthing of 'Now way!' (Also, another digression, I'm right in thinking that 'Dyke' is no longer considered a PC term, because a surprising amount of people are using it! Including a lecturer!! The conversation went: "She could be a lesbian?" / "That's a question, is she a dyke?")). And then, the big thing, was your list. Your numbers.

It's that conversation. And the judgements that come with it. It's how many are you comparing me to? How special is this? It genuinely got me thinking (an evening of sex related plays and this was my thought process! My mind is so not a dirty as many would make it out to be!) because many people start this conversation with their drainpipes with a sentence similar to the following "It doesn't make any difference, I just want to know".
Bollocks! Of course it makes a difference. Perhaps not a massive difference, I would hope not a massive difference, but it does, no matter how much you mayn't want it to. Or is this just me? It's either more than you expect, or less than you expect. There's time before any relationship when you don't know them. They have an existence and creation and memories and heartaches and, as much as we care to imagine otherwise, love that we can never know. We can never be a part of it and there is a whole era of happiness that you know you did not cause. And the second you have that conversation, all of that time that you knew of, but didn't care to acknowledge, all becomes real. It becomes fact and unavoidable and true. It changes things.

Another point the play brought up was this question of how much numbers really matter. Does a high number make you a slut, or a low number frigid? There's an episode of 'Will and Grace' (Love 'Will and Grace'!!!!!) where they make lists of how many people they've slept with and Grace's number is higher than that of her boyfriend's. However, they then make another list of how many times they've had sex, rather than with how many people (I admire their memory skillage) and the boyfriend's number was substantially higher than Grace's, even though she'd slept with more. I think at one point Karen has a line "Well, it means that people enjoy sex with him more and you less" because they stick around longer with him. This may seem like a slight digression, but it's a valid point well made. Of how much importance are the numbers. "Too fucking important" we are informed within the performance.

I liked this play, unlike a lot of physical theatre shizz (especially student physical theatre shizz) it made sense. The concept and story (I use the term 'story' very loosely) were not only clear, but very clever. Also, the people in it were very good! I could never imagine being that healthy! The thought alone fills me with dread.... maybe I shall consume some Doritos to stave off the nightmares of exercise.

So yeah..... sex.


EDIT: One of my all time favourite quotes, a genuine question of a friend of mine:

"So, lesbian sex, fill me in!"