Stories linked by a sexual daisy chain

9:09am Friday 7th March 2008

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"IT'S about sex, but it isn't pornography."

Worcester's Bob Churchill, currently preparing to play a range of characters in the Swan Theatre Amateur Company's (STAC) production of The Blue Room, is fully aware of the play's distinctly adult themes.

"It's about sex, or at least relationships that revolve around sex and how sometimes there can be very little love between lovers," he said. "It is about longing. It's about desire and deceit and fulfilment - or the lack of it - and touches on lots of important themes central to a full human life."

The Blue Room, a modern adaptation of Arthur Shnitzler's 1897 play La Ronde, is performed by STAC at Worcester's Swan Theatre in April.

Directed by Worcester Live's Chris Jaeger, it features strong language, explicit sexuality and nudity - not that it will put theatre-goers off.

Emily Portsmouth, who lives near Tenbury Wells, is making her STAC debut opposite Churchill. The 26-year-old, who admits this is her favourite play, is not concerned by nude scenes.

"I hadn't met Chris or Bob before the audition and I was naked for the promotional shots," she said. "But the worst is over."

The two-hander follows 10 characters linked, to borrow Churchill's words, by "a sort of sexual daisy chain".

"You could be following the path of a sexually transmitted infection, although this is never made explicit," he said.

"Each scene sort of builds through a seduction of various kinds, slides into sex and then briefly breaks. When the lights come back up we're seeing the characters after the deed is done, usually lying around naked or pleased with themselves and so on. Sometimes it's the first time they've slept together, other times it's the end of a relationship, or the middle."

STAC's production of The Blue Room runs from Tuesday, April 29, to Saturday, May 3.

For tickets, priced from £5 to £9.50, call the Worcester Live box office on 01905 611427 or visit www.worcesterlive.co.uk.