Male violence is like a virus. That is how it comes across in Majid Mehdizadeh’s autobiographical one-man show, a vivid confessional of a life ruled and nearly ruined by aggression. Told like this, violence feels less like a choice than an illness.
Once contracted, it is all but impossible to shake off. Even when the host is as affable as Mehdizadeh, appearing here under his stage name of Luke Jerdy, it takes a grip.
A contagion that passes from man to man, it insinuates itself in the host body, lying dormant until triggered by fear, alcohol or some territorial instinct. It flares up in school playgrounds, outside nightclubs and on raucous holidays to Crete. Sometimes it’s about status, sometimes plain rage.
Motivated by some deeply buried injustice, it compels him to lash out, blind to the consequences not only to his victims but also to himself. He is smart enough to see it ripping his friends apart, whether transferred to new schools as children or keeping their distance as adults, but he is too lacking in awareness to do anything about it. His play is less atonement than journey of self-discovery.
Known to Hollyoaks fans as Jesse Donovan, the actor is loose-limbed and athletic as he skips through a blend of rap and spoken word, synchronising with the beats of Adam Welsh and Zee Musiq at moments of intensity; stepping back into quieter poetry when he gets reflective. Under Welsh’s direction, he is lucid and engaging, losing only a touch of momentum as the poetry makes way for therapy speak.
More typically, the hard edge of the language complements the boisterous masculinity he describes. He does not deny the appeal of being a “right top lad” as he recalls schooldays moving from Stevenage to Derbyshire, trying to fit in as a half-Iranian with an unfamiliar name, while negotiating his place on the “manhood ladder”. For all the recklessness of his nights of hedonism, he celebrates the energy and camaraderie of male company, as well as satirising his own self-importance. “Jumbled-up wisdom” or not, he gives a superb performance.
Liverpool Everyman until 26 June.
