The subject of rape is very difficult to navigate in any artistic medium, and apart from the off-stage audio that distracts the audience more than it helps, Penetration manages to find an adequate balance on the subject of rape. This piece doesn’t claim to be the authority on rape, as no piece should. But it does raise more questions on our perceptions than it answers, and that is where the true beauty lies.

This is an important piece for our times, and unfortunately a theme that is becoming increasingly relevant in recent years.

SAM MORESANTOS, LONDON THEATRE REVIEWS

There’s a lot of talking heads in the show, with various personal conversations as well as the police interviews. Thankfully, it doesn’t drag, and an intriguing script offers some interesting perspectives, most notably (for me) a level of faith in the criminal justice system that doesn’t seem to tally with the experiences of victims and survivors of rape elsewhere. Even Government ministers have apologised to victims, saying they are “deeply ashamed” of record low conviction rates in recent years.

Plenty of food for thought in a realistic scenario that is far from an open and shut case.

CHRIS OMAWENG, LONDON THEATRE 1

The play is well written and performed, and even though parts of the script feel slightly too didactic to be completely natural, the story never drags or fails to hold our attention.  In the programme it says the play “aims to jolt the audience into exploring parameters of consent” – and on that front, it certainly succeeds. This relevant and hard-hitting piece will provoke some strong opinions, and it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it will certainly get audiences thinking, and talking, and that’s an essential first step in bringing about change.

THEATRE THINGS

Wow, I’m speechless! That was a very very brilliant production, very well written, very authentic, very well crafted.  It’s a sensitive topic which I think was handled very well, I think the actors portrayed it incredibly well.  What I think I found the most  incredible about the production was that they did well to present both sides of the argument and left you, as the audience, to determine how you felt watching it, which is what you want in theatre.

I think it’s an important topic and I think consent is up for discussion. Congratulations to everyone involved. Stunning performances and brilliant writing.

THAT STAGEY BLOG

This is one of those plays that will leave the audience arguing at the end about the issues it raises. Carolyn Lloyd-Davies has based it on true cases of alleged rape, cases everyone has probably read about when, after a party and drunk, a young man stays behind in the hostesses flat, they share a bed and at some point sex happens without her consent she says. 

Everyone has views but there is no way I want to enter into the arguments here, partly because I do not know the legal position with any certainty but also, as the play makes clear, in such cases newspapers get involved reporting the stort, social media erupts with abuse, comment – and worse – from people who hold views on rape, sometimes ill informed. and which damage the recipient, not necessarily the person charged, who has said something they disagree with.

WILLIAM RUSSELL, REVIEWSGATE