We here at Viva! Lifestyles remember very well playwright Thomas Bradshaw – and we believe our readers also do –, the provocateur who wrote Intimacy, a story involving a pornographic actress and her family members, and including nudity and masturbation in its scenes. Well, this time his play has nothing to do with pornography, but hot sex taking place onstage is a big plus, and it comes with a lot of noises…no! Not the kind you’re thinking! Let’s get to this story.
Michael (Nbenga Akinnagbe) is a very successful lawyer, and he has just bought what he thinks is the apartment of his dreams, a $1.5 million place that comes with a great view of Manhattan’s SoHo. The problem is that, right above his new apartment lives a very loud neighbor (Jeff Biehl), a rude, mean and selfish person who doesn’t like carpets on his floors, which is actually required by law, but he lies to an inspector sent by the building; in other words he installs the carpeting required only for the day of the visit then later removes it. Michael’s insane neighbor also has a daughter who wakes up very early in the morning and plays roughly on the wooden floors, and when he tries to speak with her about the issue, her father accuses him of pedophilia.
Well, Michael is not all alone with his problems – which are many, including alcoholism and drug abuse. His co-worker and eventually hot lover, Sarah (Susannah Flood), is there to support his troubled life, but her techniques and what she believes in doesn’t seem to help him much. On the other hand, it feels amazingly good to see them banging in bed several times throughout the show. (You will also be able to see that Mr. Akinnagbe has no reason to be shy nude onstage, due to the anatomy of his naked body; and also realize that Mrs. Flood has “small tits”, as it’s a requirement that a woman’s body must be, to make Michael happy.)
A 90-min play without an intermission, Fulfillment is very well directed (direction by Ethan McSweeny) and the cast is superb. There is certainly a lot more than just hot sex in this story than you may (happen to) realize, including two scenes where members in the audience literally spoke their minds with a “no!” and “oh, my God!” scream with enthusiasm and emotion. So just go ahead and get yourselves tickets before it closes on October 19th.
THEATRE REVIEW by Lucas Eller
