REVIEW: JOCK by Charlie Howard at White Bear Theatre 3 – 8 January 2024

‘Pacey and engaging, a precautionary postcard from somewhere you never want to visit.’ ★★★

If you’ve ever wondered why jock rhymes with cock, this one-hour, one-man play will give you the answer. A reflection on toxic masculinity drawn from the writer and performer’s experience at an unnamed university sports society. Jock, the creation of Charlie Howard, presents a closed world, one not often seen from the outside.

Against a bar, replete with beer mats and pint glasses, our protagonist is cast from the clean-cut preppie mould in a shirt worn over casual chinos, university tie, yacht shoes and damningly purple socks. Fresh-faced and square jawed, this character comes from - one assumes - a decent background with parents who phone to check on him.

New to university, alone and desperate to fit in, what better way to make friends than to join clubs? In this rendition, the local sports bar is like Dante’s Inferno on steroids, full of bladdered and shit-faced men, “a wolf pit of sweat and testosterone.” While the atmosphere is charged and overwhelming, the desire to belong is powerful. But how much is our protagonist prepared to sacrifice?

Produced by Emma McBride and directed by Ramiro Batista, Howard engages with his audience, drawing them into this bizarre place, a microcosm of society, with its own power structures, hierarchies, strict dress codes, initiation rituals and badges of honour. To fit in, he must play by the rules which involves ditching niceties along with his moral compass and becoming as thoughtless and objectionable as his contemporaries.

We journey with Howard as a bright and willing acolyte, keen to please and prove himself through Biblical trials involving excessive drink, pointless sex (to keep up “the body count”) humiliating rituals and mindless violence. As Howard moves through the narrative – multi-roling as a host of characters, he transforms from ingenue-like innocence to a manipulative controller. Not such a cute guy after all and to paraphrase the girl from the netball team, “a f******g c***t.”

Jock is an engaging, pacey piece of work, a postcard from somewhere you never want to visit. It would benefit from more nuanced lighting design and the use of sound or music would undoubtedly elevate this story, full of emotion that could have gone even darker. But this is toxic masculinity in action and tasteless as much of it is, Jock feels authentic and true with a convincing performance from Charlie Howard whose writing clearly conveys the brutalising and damaging impact of such an environment.

The implicit question embedded in the audience participation (avoid the front row if you don’t like this kind of thing) is how far will you go to follow the rules, comply, and not disturb the ‘script?’ Refreshingly, last night’s victim refused. This visible display of resistance chimed the only positive note in this disturbing world which brought to mind cults, totalitarian regimes, and the Bullingdon Club. God help us all.

JOCK at White Bear Theatre 3 – 8 January 2024

Box Office https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/jock 

The Company

Charlie Howard - Creator

Ramiro Batista - Director

Emma McBride - Producer