Created and performed by Matthias Moret, Spit In My Face was my choice to review at this year’s Sprint Festival at Camden People’s Theatre.
It’s a piece about queer polyamory, from the perspective of Pierre, a young Frenchman who enjoys lots of partners and fears being everything to one person as he’s just human.
Casting an eye around the stage pre-show, you see two tables pushed together, a chair, a microphone, a bunch of flowers, a bowl, and long balloons. Each of these will be important in the piece itself.
Matthias/Pierre arrives in a fluster, asking where his partner, Alan, is, as “this is not a solo show.” So, Spit In My Face becomes a confessional conversation with the audience while we wait.
In being honest with Alan about his polyamory (multiple partners rather than one), Pierre still seems unsatisfied. When first he, and then Alan, breach their rules (“I mean agreements”) things get rocky.
With a blue marker, physical movement and ballet, and inventive use of the aforementioned balloons, this is a stark exploration of the reality behind sexual experimentation, where app notifications are constant.
Whether counting out the names of partners (by petals in a bowl), speaking thoughts into the microphone (“I want to lie in the mud with you, him, and all of them”) or recounting dominant or submissive moments during sex, Moret tosses many ideas into Spit In My Face.
It feels as if there is more to say about navigating a polyamorous pairing with a bisexual partner or in exploring issues of sexual consent, but fifty minutes isn’t quite enough for these areas to develop fully.
There’s hook ups, photo requests, and, inevitably, nudity, but also, a tender moment with a shirt representing the absent Alan. Moret’s performance is cute, cynical, and confident, his show sexy, sentimental, and sad.
Spit In My Face is one of those shows that grabs you by the lapels and eventually lets you go just a little shaken and stunned. Moret is clearly unafraid to explore his sexuality and has a style that walks the line between sensitive and threatening.
These small fringe festivals like Sprint allow the new and unusual in theatre to be shared and experienced, and they are crucial – on the day Vault’s closure was announced it felt right to be at a show like this.
Spit In My Face was at Camden People’s Theatre as part of Sprint Festival. For more on Matthias Moret, visit his Instagram profile.
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Image credit: Andréa Truffault