Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joe Layton, Kate Franz.

If you had the bitter choice of appearing to lose face or losing the respect of someone you love, which road would you take, which option would you endure as you sweat behind the curtain, as you drown in the first beads of self pity and anxious reproach?

There is the misunderstanding of confusion in many minds when it comes to the art of stripping, especially tilted unfairly in the eyes of men when it comes to women who get paid to take their clothes off or dress down from the erotic image of a naughty nun or playful policewoman. It is a confusion that always sadly needs to be addressed and reminded of when certain individuals have too much to drink and let their thoughts and their mouths turn to the more colourful language on offer.

Emily Layton’s Partial Nudity addresses that crux of sexuality, of the dichotomy of someone doing a job and the abuse they may have to offer as a seasoned professional takes to task a male stripper who only has eyes on the powerful rush and sexual thrill it provides; it is a play that twists the thoughts of those in Zoo as to just how far they have actually gone in trash talking someone for any job they may have. We all have bills to pay and we do what we have to too pay them, even it means the idea of the ultimate power challenge, the apparent dominance of one sex over another and the shame of making them realise that they are actually putty in your hands rather than the other way around.

The back streets of Bolton might not be the first place you would think of when staring down the barrel of a one sided philosophical argument between two strippers but as the town faces its own uphill challenge to recapture former glories, to change from its very down at heel surface, Partial Nudity reflects that inertia and in the smart and highly educated female, played by Kate Franz, the mixture of beauty and conquering finality is framed well and is a perfect foil to the wonderfully brash, insecure, abrupt and forsaken local lad played superbly by Joe Layton.

Power comes from control, in any walk of life, it is from the confidence to go out in the limelight and portray an image of what people desire and not relish in that emotion. Partial Nudity is the true naked virtue.

Ian D. Hall