A play populated by people who see everything as self-evident runs the risk of becoming so. Amidst the money and manliness the only real depth is to be found in the distant and hardened Arthur (Tina Bursill) and the “dickless” Harrison (Zindzi Okenyo) a square peg buffed by bullying into the ugly semblance of something rounded. By contrast the development of Priya (Sophia Roberts), another new recruit we witness attempting to get a start on the stock floor, seems stunted, taken under the wing of Astrid (Danielle Cormack) and by association building a similar ruthless but flat facade about herself. No characters seem completely spared from the broad-brush crotch-grabbing and cliché.
Boys Will Be Boys blares uncertainly between comedy and gender commentary, but never quite succeeds at either, too often appearing as little more than shock for shock’s sake that asks few questions and delivers few laughs.
The play is like the acquaintance at work you feel obliged to endure -- it swears, fucks, and gets too drunk, pressuring you to partake but failing to do so. This feels like an outside peek into both male and finance cultures (barring the odd bits of jargon that suggest this is a place of business and not a boys’ high school, as it often feels) that doesn’t quite reveal enough.
