'Slag Heap' by Theater Pro Rata

Claude Peck, Star Tribune, March 31, 2006

You'll never appreciate your comfy sofa more than after seeing "Slag Heap," the Joe Ortonesque play by Anton Dudley that Theatre Pro Rata is throwing itself into with great passion at the Loading Dock Theater in St. Paul. The play's British street prostitutes, one young man and two young women, never seem to catch a break, or even a chance to sit on some decent furniture. If they're not leaning on a graffiti-covered wall they're sleeping on a cold sidewalk.

And talking. Always talking, especially foul-mouthed Ashley (Amber Bjork), sunny, slang-tossing gay hustler Dave (Joseph Papke) and man killer Donna (Jennifer Phillips, in a scene-stealing smaller part that nearly destroys a tacky couch). A darker, quieter spirit resides in Fran (Zoe Benston).

Ashley and Dave are down-and-out castoffs turning tricks in post-Thatcher Manchester. They argue about the merits of shagging to the band Oasis, and Ashley convinces Dave to hand over some recent meager earnings for crisps [potato chips] and vodka from a nearby pub. Ashley longs for a time when crisps were "just potatoes, salt, grease," and not the high-falutin' modern flavors like "prawn cocktail" and the all-American "nacho." Dave describes his tricks in raunchy detail until Ashley, who isn't getting any business, declares that female hookers are passé, since "puff is in."

The hustlers' badinage is pure joy because the writer's language is so rich and his ear is so good. An American, Dudley lived in Manchester and other parts of England, and it shows. His characters often leave a sentence half-finished, as in "You scared me half," and "I'm giving you the benefit." Amid the dark dealings, laugh lines abound. After moving to London in search of "the fat life" in rave clubs, Dave reassures Fran that yes, he still smokes menthol cigarettes "because that way you don't have to brush your teeth." Dave's coke-fueled tirade after intermission is a thing to behold, as is Ashley's somewhat illogical but inspired soliloquy near the end.

There's plenty of stone-bored chit-chat, but bigger themes -- about love, loyalty, politics, economic justice, violence, exploitation -- flash out to illuminate the quotidian.

Under Carin Bratlie's direction, the excellent young cast brings great honor to Dudley's bleak vision of dead-end youth, who dream small and long for America, a wondrous clean land brimming with "convenience." Despite an anorexic budget, the creative team pulls off visually arresting bits of stage business, including one in a laundromat and another at a London photo session.

On Thursday night, the audience and the cast were the same size. Given how good this production is, that's a tragedy.

Review: An outstanding young cast brings to life a dark, biting script centering on a trio of down-and-out prostitutes.