Theatre
The Accidental Pervert
St James Cavalier

I’ll be the first to admit that going to watch a play called The Accidental Pervert intrigued me because it can be very difficult to pull off a good performance without coming across as crass or capitalising on cheap laughs.

I should have known that TAC Theatre’s choice of Malcolm Galea as the protagonist would have laid my misgivings to rest.

Running at St James Cavalier this weekend, this production depends solely on the actor’s delivery of Andrew Goffman’s hilarious script, and Galea managed to do this with great timing, confidence and a certain panache which only a seasoned comic actor who doesn’t take himself too seriously can manage to pull off.

Adapted to suit a Maltese setting by director Marc Cabourdin, a wise choice which rooted the plot within the local consciousness and, consequently, also played to the dark humour so particular to the Maltese mindset.

It uses humour and innuendo as its catalyst and it works very well thanks to Galea’s excellent sense of showmanship

The pervert in question directly addresses the audience, breaking the fourth wall, and occasionally attempting to involve the audience members in his innuendo and cheeky asides. It takes a lot of self-assurance to read your audience and play to its reactions and reception of your quips, especially since these are already rather risqué to begin with.

The pervert recounts his journey from boyhood into his teens and 20s, as a compulsive consumer of pornography, after the discovery of a stash of vintage porn in his father’s closet following his parents’ separation.

The young Andrew Gauci becomes fascinated by what he sees both as an insight into women and sex and, at the same time, a means of sharing a common secret with his father. It is a hilarious recounting of the increasingly weird kinks and fantasies of a teenager, later a young adult, and the comical repercussions of his erroneous assumptions that porn scenarios can actually happen in real life. But it also becomes a poignant exploration of how a young boy’s mind – by means of a fluke which exposes him to sexual quirks – can change his perspective on women and relationships and skew it far from the actual reality of the physical nature of emotionally strong and engaging relationships.

The idea of feeling closer to your father via a mutual obsession with all kinds of corny and unrealistic sexual scenarios gives way to a mutual feeling of a loss of sexual empowerment when Andrew finally meets the woman of his dreams, marries her and becomes a father himself.

In an attempt to protect his daughter’s innocence, he tries to quit porn cold turkey and succeeds to the point of frustration. Just before his wedding, it also exposes his vulnerability and desire to have a more meaningful relationship with his father, who passes away suddenly.

What is interesting about the way in which this is all portrayed is, of course, the fact that it uses humour and innuendo as its catalyst. This works very well thanks to Galea’s excellent sense of showmanship which he counterbalances with the right sort of discipline in self-restraint, rounding the character he portrays into a more nuanced figure than the one-dimensional entity he could easily become.

The Accidental Pervert therefore entertains on two levels: a lighter level of schoolboy humour which is nonetheless fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously, and contemporaneously, it explores the way in which sexual fantasies and hang-ups affect relationships, while keeping the audience laughing out loud. Definitely worth sneaking a not-so-surreptitious peek.

• The Accidental Pervert is being staged at St James Cavalier on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8pm.