A one man experiment into the nature of humankind, Womb Man is an interesting idea which does not ask any new questions or indeed answer any. A clever performance by Ricky Payne helps this piece to move along, but it sometimes gets lost in its own density and as such becomes slightly incomprehensible.
We are in an experimental room, where a monkey is about to be transformed into a man by the eating of a jellybaby sweet (a bizarre and never again mentioned idea) as told by a taped sardonic voice. Man then realises he likes woman, and then Socrates, Malcolm X, Jesus (or The Son) and Hitler step in. Cue the failure of the experiment. Lets begin again, this time with Womb Man (for some reason the actual word woman cannot be used), Marilyn Monroe, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra and Queen Elizabeth I take to the stage and the author also plays a role. To call this piece postmodern is to make the greatest understatement of the century.
But what is it actually saying? We piece together that men are driven by power and sex and will ironically destroy everything in order to keep living. We are shown that women are concerned with children, being underlings to men and bitching about and to each other. Hardly original conclusions, however there are some beautiful truths hidden away in these cliches and it is a shame that the obviousness drowns these wisdoms.
Ricky Payne is a street poet and you can tell this in his fluid and bullet like language. Sometimes simplistically rhyming and at other times very poignant, he reminds me of Steven Berkoff; beautifully physical but incredibly crude. He sails very close to the wind with his seemingly needless obscenity, but then always throws out a beautiful turn of phrase which switches the sail and enables him to glide on through.
It does not seem enough however. This piece is full of clever thoughts and yet it falls down through a lack of solid construction. Never ceasing, never letting you think, this show is performed with panache but is confused and confusing. It does not really highlight anything groundbreaking about either sex and leaves one feeling slightly as though the author let his very powerful voice run away with him.
