'JOHN' National Theatre, Lyttleton ****

One rather admires when performances combine dramatic genres together to devise a gratifying production that conveys one man's plight from all phases of his life. DV8 Physical Theatre, one of the United Kingdom's leading companies of the genre have linked physical theatre, LGBT theatre and verbatim theatre to create their latest production, ‘JOHN’. One found the performance was particularly motivating, moreover, the performers’ portrayals were singularly charismatic. ‘JOHN’ was conceived and directed by Lloyd Newson who compresses the biography of the anxious man, John into a 75 minute performance, where we are introduced by the vehement experiences that John had to face with his father, and how abusive he was with not only himself, but his mother, who is immensely unhappy with her marriage. Additionally, she shoplifts regularly to allow her son to be nourished. The father horrifically whips John's brother on the back and bottom continually until he bleeds. Through unblemished movements, as a way of scenic transition, John enters the life of binge eating and excessive drug use, and he ends up in prison where he sets the hostel, where he is living, as he is homeless alight. This instance proves to be quite helpful as he decides to lose weight, and this idea works wonders as he loses a gargantuan amount of stones, which helps him through his mental instability. However, the crucial aspect in this performance is where he realises that he is fundamentally a gay man, as well as, this enables us to learn about what occurs in saunas suited for the gay community, and hazardous circumstances that surround unprotected sex. The unnerving moment is where we see graphical images of sexually transmitted infections, which does question about not only gay men, but heterosexual couples decisions to not protect themselves against such infections. John does revel in this lifestyle as he has the freedom to divulge in watching pornography, and an array of men who are desperate to have sex immediately. Newson’s story is increasingly thought-provoking, and severely fascinating as we are greeted with a number of aspects in how we must safeguard ourselves against STI’s, on the other hand, one would have liked a little bit more dialogue from the performers. One found the performances by the company of ‘JOHN’ were daring and stylistically wonderful through effortless choreographed sequences. Hannes Langolf is extraordinary as the main role, John; especially when we understand that he and his son, who is getting married are searching for one another, but most importantly his movements were spectacular and principally enigmatic at all angles throughout the show. Lloyd Newson also directs and choreographs this performance with an intriguingly supreme level of precision; explicitly at the gay sauna as he informs us of the horrifying circumstances that gay men living with AIDS, etc. have to endure each day. Anna Flesche’s set and costumes are appealing as her revolving set interconnects with Lloyd’s movements with remarkable grandeur, as well as, its simplicity allows you to fully engross in John’s story. Overall, one found the experience of ‘JOHN’ to be an educational and visceral one. Categorically recommended one thinks.