Posh, a play by Laura Wade currently showing at The Duke of York's Theatre, is about members of an all male elite dining club named The Riot Club whose aim at every meet is to have as much fun and cause much chaos as possible.
Being young and a South East Londoner seeing a play called Posh is not the best combination I have come up with, but as I watched the show I found myself more and more drawn in. The cast is absolutely stellar, with some of the UK's best talents donning their best posh accent and dinner outfits for a two and a half hour show that would make the poshest of person squirm in their seat.
I am not going to lie, some parts were lost in translation for me, I had never actually heard of elite clubs in the UK until I saw the reviews for the play but equally there were some scenes that the older people did not understand. Like the A cappella versions of hit songs like LMFAO's “Sexy and I know it” and Maroon 5's “Moves like Jagger”. The older audience simply smiled and nodded along to the music, while the handful of the younger audience were trying so hard not to dance along. I do not know what it is, but there is something funny but oddly sexy about a group of posh boys in uniform singing songs from the chart.
As the dinner goes on, the atmosphere gets darker, with member Alistair ranting about how he is "sick to fucking death" of poor people and how he feels The Riot Club deserves everything because of their background. I am guessing this is the part where all the newspapers are saying this is Laura Wade's angry middle finger to the middle class of this country. But really, is it? It's an interesting subject she's pinpointed at, because I know many people the same age as me who feel like they deserve everything just "because". It's a theme more universal then you think, so I'm glad Laura Wade has done it. However, I do think the dark side of The Riot Club is suddenly pushed onto the audience and as a viewer you do not really have time to digest it, but I guess that is life in general, it can be all fun and games until horrible sides are let loose.
The thing I loved most about Posh is the characters. Whether you want to admit it, we all know at least one character from this play. For me it was Harry (played by Max Bennett) who is, for a lack of better words, the loveable douche bag. If you are looking for a character that shows some similarity to one of the infamous members of The Bullingdon club, then keep a look out for George, the character I imagine that if Boris Johnson watched, he would think he was in a time machine looking down on himself in his 20s.
Posh is brass, bold, and like an episode of toff Skins. It doesn’t matter what background you are, you will love this show. To quote the characters from the show, it was totally savage.
