Gazes and Perceptions in Centaur Theatre’s Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes
Sexual Misconduct of The Middle Classes is currently presented at the Centaur Theatre until November 27th. Directed by Eda Homes –whom we had the pleasure of interviewing, check out our article– and written by Hannah Moscovitch, it is a play discussing the relationship between Jon Macklem, a thrice-divorced author and professor, and one of his students, Annie.
It all begins when Jon sees Annie in one of his lectures and notices her because of her vivid red coat. Jon is depressed and feeling low after his third divorce, even more since it came as a surprise on his side. However, he soon realizes that Annie lives in an apartment next to his house and she is a new talented writer. She admires him and, having read all his books, is very interested in him. This respect often seems like more for Jon and they soon start having a sexual relationship after meeting a few times at his house. Even if he feels guilty, he has fallen in love with Annie’s innocence and talent. However, Jon will leave her after learning his ex-wife is pregnant.
It is only 4 years later that they meet again and Annie explains that when she looks at 19-year-old, they seem very young to her, and that, at the time, she truly respected Jon and would have done anything to please him. While she doesn’t claim she was sexually assaulted, she points out that some components of their relationship were not correct. Jon listens, but leaves without saying anything.
Many years later, Annie has grown her own career, she asks Jon to meet again. Annie hands him the script of a new play she will soon present, a story based on their own relationship. While Jon flips through the page, he drops the text, realizing what truth it reveals. In the only words Annie will ever say directly to the audience, she finally says how good it feels.
One omnipresent theme in the story is how, as one is placed in a position of power, they are able to impose their perception of reality on others who therefore become subjects of this narrative.
The scene is constructed as one block, open to the audience, with many latches that can open, revealing different props representing the different scenes of the play. Being either a desk, a library or a kitchen counter, the fluidity of the scene can represent how in control Jon is of his environment as he is able to directly interact with the walls to create the rooms, something Annie never does, therefore implicitly setting the power dynamic between them.
Statements are projected on the walls of the room and serve as titles for the different scenes, re-utilizing the topic of literature which is present throughout the play in both the characters’ occupations. Images of Annie are also projected on the walls when Jon fantasizes about her, evoking even for the audience an imagined idea of Annie which presents her as innocent and mesmerizing. This serves further to impose Jon’s gaze as the only real version of Annie, restricting her.
While Jon wears mostly the same clothes, Annie evolves through the scenes. While she wears a miniskirt at the beginning, showing her innocence mixed with sex appeal, after the time skips, she now wears long pants and tied hair, a sign of maturity and change. In the final scene, she even wears a red coat, showing her desire to revolt but also to express herself as her own person, liberated from Jon’s gaze.
While there are only two actors in this play, Marcel Jeannin and Inès Defossé, having Jon narrate the story gives him the most power over the narrative, allowing him to impose his gaze on Annie. While Jon makes many jokes, lifting the audience’s spirit, and has an almost cynical view of his life, it is crushingly clear that Annie never addresses the audience directly except at the end. While Jon is able to speak out his mind and therefore impact the viewer through his monologues, Annie is always a subject to the story, never allowed to express what she thinks. Her revenge is therefore even more impacting as she exposes him.
I personally liked the play, but feel it is very intense. As a college student as well, seeing a young woman fall prey to an older man was disturbing, but even more when she is partially presented as “having wanted it too”. This is a play that challenges the mind and is very actual as the repercussions of the #metoo movement are still observed today.
I am the Editor of the Arts and Culture department, but also a second year student in the Honours Health science program. 🙂
