By Samuel Smith
Inspired by the now infamous comment made by Donald Trump, ‘Grab Em By The Pussy’ is musical which explores a dystopian world where women have lost all autonomy over their sexual rights and consent. In this world, women wait to be groped by men and are reduced to sexual objects with no voice. The musical focuses on one Girl, Masie (Alice Wolff-Whitehouse) – the girl who has never been groped as we follow her along her quest to be fondled.
The production has a noble message and the themes are identified very early on. The seediness of men and the culture of women being sexually subservient to men piles into the narrative immediately. But therein lies the problem. Everything is there from the start. Nothing is explored or questioned or analysed or dissected or investigated. It’s just an hour of the same (albeit important) message that “this is what the world could look like, in an extreme form, if heterosexual male desires were left to run wild.”
The use of the dissenting male, Ian (Alasdair Melrose) who bucks the trend and ends up being the love interest of our main heroin in principle was good. But the character was weedy, feeble, annoying and breathy. Not all heterosexual males who believe in gender equality are like this. I should know.
On a positive note, the songs were well written and performed. The cast really shone in these parts. Great voices a with nice musical accompaniment.
Ultimately, it has an important message but this was not enough of a reason to make the show great however.
Camden Fringe Voyeur 