The Last King of Porn is a play full of ambition. We are landed upon the set of a snuff porn film production. Tragedy, incest, lingerie and shadows are our themes. An Italian Stallion makes his final film, employing a hundred porn stars engaging in what they do behind a curtain, painting the action as silhouettes. Meanwhile, female porn stars wait for their number to be called for their turn.

This is where the drama unfolds, in the waiting room. The youngest of the cast discovers she had been conceived on the set of a vintage porno, back in the olden days when porn stars had a full bush. The film had starred tonight’s Italian stallion, who she was just about to be filmed being with! Her Dad! The plan is too snuff him out with a cyanide pill, and just for good measure finish the job with a pair of scissors – presumably to save the severed member as a token of a job well done.

Such a crazy story could live only in the world of porn. I tried to do it in the least aggressive way as possible. The play is for a mature public Alessandro Onorato
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With English not being the mother tongue of the cast members present, one cannot help thinking that the script would have been better portrayed in Italian with English subtitles. On second thoughts, one can only wonder what inspired such a sick & twisted concept of endemic violence. OK, we do have Oedipus, but that incest was done much more tastefully. But then again, is it even possible to approach the subject of porn, especially snuff porn, in a sensitive way? Maybe as an opera. Operas are full of this kind of tragedy.

Mark ‘Divine’ Calvert

The Last King of Porn

Greenside @ Infirmary Street

Aug 2-17 (21:50)

www.ibirbanti.it