The touring version of Making Porn, with real-live porn stars Blake Harper and Jason Branch hyped as its stars, is dishonest.
Eager to laugh, the opening night Toronto audience was palpably happy to see folk heroes in the flesh. But the production betrayed that goodwill.
Ronnie Larson’s script for Making Porn, originally produced in Chicago in 1995, is really a backstage drama following the downward spiral of two long-term relationships (a gay-for-pay porn star and his wife; a gay porn director and his assistant/lover) and the tragic trajectory of a third , blossoming romance (the assistant and a new recruit).
Despite their more obvious talents and charm, Harper and Branch’s acting skills are stuck at the porno level – which could have worked given another, more lighthearted, vehicle. (The other four members of the cast offer only slight improvements.)
But the badly written melodramas overshadow the nudity and screwball sex hijinks in the first act. And be forewarned, there’s no nudity in the second act and a maudlin AIDS story-line takes over.
For the same ticket price ($45 to $55; $5 more for the first three rows), you can have three table dances at the Toronto strip bar Remington’s – in other words: more skin, funnier jokes and greater honesty (which makes for better drama).
Making Porn continues at the Bathurst Street Theatre (736 Bathurst St) until Sun, Feb 11; call (416) 531-6100.
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