‘Ouch is a four letter word’ cries Bobby Finn, aka sexual deviant and lothario Christian Grey. Ouch is certainly one way to describe the performance. Painful to watch and cringe-worthy to the extreme, My Name is Christian Grey is a show that will certainly not have you coming back for more.
Bobby Finn presents the ‘real’ man behind the fictional character of E. L. James’s best-selling novel ’50 Shades of Grey’. Telling us about his life on an Australian sheep farm and secret pop-star career, we hear about the goings-on of the libertine that E. L. James decided to leave unsaid. He’s different from the man in the book, he assures us and is ‘just like you’. If you’re a fan of poetry that a fifteen-year-old teenage boy would graffiti on the back of a toilet door then maybe he is like you but for most of us, he could not be more offensive.
Finn’s performance is uninspired. Taking the already rather trashy book (let’s face it) and adding only crude remarks and cheap jokes, Finn succeeds only in alienating his audience. This is a hard task as judging by the title of the show, the audience are expecting it to be a little naughty and outrageous. However, without a note of irony or even any wit or sophistication whatsoever, people were visibly wincing at his stories. I wouldn’t normally mention this, but such a large proportion of the audience left the room that it is definitely noteworthy. The only credit I can give to him, is carrying on with such loud and off-putting disturbances.
My name is Christian Grey is brash, crude and unoriginal. Talk about all pain and no pleasure.
