Sex and Shame at the Boots Counter: 'Hard Pill' Review

On Wednesday 5th of November, I went to see the penultimate performance of People You Know’s Hardpill, written by Loulou Sloss, directed by Sofia Hattiagadi and produced by Olga Blanco. The play was hosted at the Heritage Museum on North Street, in an intimate setting where the audience was facing a very faithful reproduction of the Boots Pharmacy set up. Hard Pill focused on the concept of virginity and the various reasons why people choose to (or not) have sex, for many different reasons in that setting. As emphasized by Lou Lou, the play is about the culture and underpinnings behind the “Shame of having and the shame of not having sex, and the impossible balance between the two in reconciling different mindsets.” It is also about friendship and the value of sharing.

Despite its comedic nature, where characters mock each other, Hard Pill was inherently political. Lou Lou Sloss explained the inspiration behind the Boots setting: “Many girls have complained from experience about the shame and the lack of delicacy that some of the pharmacy staff members have had regarding taking the Plan B pill”. Throughout the play, the pharmacist Joan, incarnated by Aubrey McCance, dressed as a drag, keeps being extremely judgemental about having unprotected sex (and ironically ends the play in “It feels better”) when Harry (played by Matt Clegg) purchases a condom. The character of Hannah, played by Liv Douglas, chewing her gum loudly, was phenomenal too and the running joke about nipple covers cracked the audience up.

The other politicized dimension of the play was regarding conservatism and feminism: is the choice of willingly having unprotected sex ultimately political? Does it testify to a form of empowerment or not? I thought that although initially the characters are stereotypically written embodying the virgin (Sonia) and the girl who is more sexually active (Astrid), the moment of friction that epitomizes that conflict left an open interpretation for the audience. Precisely because it was devoid of any moral judgement, it testified of a great sense of sensibility as Sonia’s monologue was very raw and full of hesitations. In a time where conservatism is on the rise with purity culture, the associations with abstinence can be linked to morality. Furthermore, the male loneliness epidemic was touched upon with Harry’s character, portrayed as clumsy, gaudish and desperate, but ended up being more multifaceted. He does provide empathy towards his friends and is oblivious to flirting around him. Moreover, I think that the seamlessness of transitions between comedy and gripping moments, made it so more enjoyable for the audience.

The other statement regarded the uneasiness between having a mutual understanding that you had sex without being close in anyone’s life. Is there certain information that should not be disclosed? For instance, the exaggeration from the form’s asking of duration, enjoyment of the act in itself. First fight scene where people picked up the pun: “If im a baby shouldn't matter than im a virgin”, whereby the tension was released.

I think that for the majority of the audience, most characters were very relatable, which made them very endearing. There was a particular scene in mind that was striking: when Astrid (played by Iris Hedley) mentions the value behind the extent to which we are willing to share the core of our intimacy with close friends. In a town like St Andrews where everyone knows of everyone’s business, and more private people can struggle with conversations, it was refreshing to see that represented to a wider audience. The character of Sonia (played by Natalie Urusov) was very endearing. 

Photographs provided by People You Know