{"id":574967,"date":"2025-11-16T22:24:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T22:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574967\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T22:24:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T22:24:18","slug":"porn-play-reviews-round-up-starring-ambika-mod-at-the-royal-court-theatre-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/574967\/","title":{"rendered":"Porn Play reviews round-up starring Ambika Mod at the Royal Court Theatre in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

A round-up of reviews for the Royal Court Theatre\u2019s world premiere production of Porn Play<\/a><\/strong> starring Ambika Mod<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Porn Play is now running at the Royal Court Theatre until 13 December 2025. Tickets are sold out, with returns only.<\/p>\n

Read a reviews round-up from the Times, Independent and more, with further reviews to be added.<\/p>\n

Porn Play is the latest drama by Sophia Chetin-Leuner<\/strong> (This Might Not Be It), and is directed by Josie Rourke<\/strong>, former Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse and Bush Theatre.<\/p>\n

The cast features British screen star Ambika Mod<\/a><\/strong> (One Day, This Is Going to Hurt), alongside Will Close<\/strong> (Dear England<\/a>), Lizzy Connolly<\/strong> (Pygmalion, Cabaret<\/a>), and Asif Khan<\/strong> (A Man for All Seasons, Tartuffe).<\/p>\n

In the play, Ambika Mod stars as Ani, a dazzling young academic with a secret addiction to violent pornography. As her career and relationships unravel in between lectures on Paradise Lost, can she confront her uncontrollable desires?<\/p>\n

The creative team also includes design by Yimei Zhao, lighting design by Mark Henderson, movement direction by Wayne McGregor, sound design by Helen Skiera, and casting by Jessica Ronane CDG and Saffeya Shebli.<\/p>\n

Porn Play is playing at the Royal Court Theatre in London until 13 December 2025.<\/p>\n

More about Porn Play at the Royal Court Theatre in London<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the critics saying about Porn Play?<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod excels as an academic undone by pornography addiction”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Sophia Chetin-Leuner\u2019s drama toggles between digital and physical worlds as it traces a scholar\u2019s grim compulsion”<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s frequently funny but this bold play by Sophia Chetin-Leuner captures the wearying compulsion of an addict, showing how the search for release has turned into grim habit.”<\/p>\n

“In a riveting performance, Ambika Mod manages to make Ani\u2019s isolation and emptiness as moving as it is unsettling.”<\/p>\n

“Key to the play\u2019s success is the way Chetin-Leuner and director Josie Rourke skilfully toggle between the digital and physical worlds to emphasise the seductive, instant gratification of the internet”<\/p>\n

“As a play about chronic addiction, this story is full of secrets, emphasised by Yimei Zhao\u2019s inspired design which transforms the Royal Court\u2019s small upstairs theatre into a padded den.”<\/p>\n

“Will Close, Lizzy Connolly and Asif Khan deftly handle multiple supporting roles between them in a show with sharply delineated movement direction by Wayne McGregor.”<\/p>\n

Chris Wiegand, The Guardian<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More reviews by Chris Wiegand<\/p>\n

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More The Guardian reviews<\/p>\n

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The Evening Standard<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod is harrowingly good as a porn addict”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Sophia Chetin-Leuner has crafted a deliberately shocking, thoughtful work that\u2019s also funny”<\/p>\n

“Be warned: Sophia Chetin-Leuner\u2019s provocatively titled drama is brutally sad rather than sexy. It features a harrowing central performance, more emotionally than physically exposing, from Ambika Mod”<\/p>\n

“There are graphic descriptions of extreme acts and scenes where the dynamics of real or fantasy sex are evoked \u2013 one of which is the most transgressive I\u2019ve experienced on stage since Mark Ravenhill\u2019s Shopping and F*cking in this very theatre in 1996.”<\/p>\n

“… Chetin-Leuner has crafted a deliberately shocking, thoughtful work that\u2019s also funny. And this – along with a larky set by Yimei Zhao… gives Josie Rourke\u2019s production a disconcertingly uneven tone. Which is probably deliberate, to keep us off balance, to challenge woolly thinking and knee-jerk reactions.”<\/p>\n

“Slight and softly spoken, Mod plays the truth of this disorienting mania beautifully.”<\/p>\n

“This is an uneven but bold probing of a dirty little secret in society that finds, in Ambika Mod, an eloquent expression of underlying pain.”<\/p>\n

Nick Curtis, The Evening Standard<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More reviews by Nick Curtis<\/p>\n

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More The Evening Standard reviews<\/p>\n

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The Independent<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod\u2019s bold addiction drama resists simple answers”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The \u2018One Day\u2019 star plays a young professor whose addiction to violent pornography online makes for confronting real-life viewing”<\/p>\n

“… Sophia Chetin-Leuner\u2019s daring new Porn Play”<\/p>\n

“What is most refreshing about Chetin-Leuner\u2019s play is that there are no easy answers. The porn addict at its heart is not some middle-aged man living with his mum, but a young female academic on the rise. She\u2019s smart and funny. She\u2019s a feminist”<\/p>\n

“All the action and all the w***ing takes place in Yimei Zhao\u2019s futuristic-looking set that has transformed the Royal Court\u2019s upstairs theatre into a fleshy, tiered collection of descending curves that functions like a magician\u2019s top hat”<\/p>\n

“Anchored by Mod, Porn Play is by turns funny and disturbing \u2013 a welcome and bold addition to the growing discourse surrounding sex and the internet.”<\/p>\n

Annabel Nugent, The Independent<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More The Independent reviews<\/p>\n

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The Telegraph<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“This relentless play about a female porn addict is a grim watch”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Porn Play starring Ambika Mod is uncompromising, uncomfortable \u2013 and too often unsubtle watch”<\/p>\n

“Could any drama possibly hope to live up to Porn Play\u2019s pruriently provocative title? Almost certainly not, yet writer Sophia Chetin-Leuner is not short of surprises for us.”<\/p>\n

“The result is an uncompromising, uncomfortable \u2013 get ready to watch myriad masturbation scenes \u2013 and too often unsubtle watch.”<\/p>\n

“Seated complicity in the round, we watch Ani\u2019s life unravel over a series of short and punchy scenes that play out in a pit of concentric circles”<\/p>\n

“… Mod is an intriguing performer who can spin from sorrow to humour with just the tiniest shift in expression, lightening or darkening a mood with the most understated of touches. Yet here Mod makes Ani unrelentingly bleak and blank”<\/p>\n

“Chetin-Leuner sensibly doesn\u2019t offer easy answers or explanations for what has driven Ani to the darkest recesses of the internet.”<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s delightful work from Lizzy Connolly in a handful of quick-change roles”<\/p>\n

Fiona Mountford, The Telegraph<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More reviews by Fiona Mountford<\/p>\n

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More The Telegraph reviews<\/p>\n

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TimeOut<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod gives a fearless performance as a woman addicted to violent porn in this gutsy new drama”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to be honest and say that I was worried I\u2019d not be able to take a drama about a porn addict entirely seriously. It\u2019s an unusual subject!”<\/p>\n

“Rourke\u2019s production is staged on a remarkable Yimei Zhao set”<\/p>\n

“… Ani is not okay, and over the course of Porn Play\u2019s vignette-like scenes she starts to spiral, her inability to feel comfortable without turning to appallingly violent porn gradually poisoning her life and relationships, and even taking a physical toll on her.”<\/p>\n

“Although Rourke\u2019s production features no actual porn or nudity, it still feels very brave of Mod to tackle this role so committedly”<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a bold play with a fantastically committed performance from Mod. My basic problem is that violent porn addiction in women is such a rare and delicate subject to be tackling that Chetin-Leuner\u2019s splashy conceptual flourishes feel like a personal hobby horse she\u2019s unsubtly worked in.”<\/p>\n

Andrzej Lukowski, TimeOut<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More reviews by Andrzej Lukowski<\/p>\n

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More TimeOut reviews<\/p>\n

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The Times<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod takes on taboos as a porn addict”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The One Day star plays a Milton expert with an online habit at the Royal Court, but for all the graphic sex talk this production is soft-centred”<\/p>\n

“… Josie Rourke\u2019s production is actually as soft-centred as the material underfoot.”<\/p>\n

“Porn Play operates on a broader canvas but delivers a portrait of a woman who remains more symbol than substance.”<\/p>\n

“Mod gives an unassuming, low-key performance.”<\/p>\n

“Asif Khan makes an impression in the limited role of Ani\u2019s widowed father, who tries to confront his daughter\u2019s obsessions. It\u2019s a shame we don\u2019t hear more from him and less from the laptop.”<\/p>\n

Clive Davis, The Times<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

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More reviews by Clive Davis<\/p>\n

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More The Times reviews<\/p>\n

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The Stage<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

“Sparky and inquisitive”<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ambika Mod stars in a provocative drama about transgressive desire and addiction”<\/p>\n

“Sex and shame, violence and pleasure, transgression and self-destruction: this new play by Sophia Chetin-Leuner is a mess of provocations, as elliptical and frustrating as it is sparky and inquisitive.”<\/p>\n

“It feels like a frenzy of intriguing ideas, none of which is properly pursued \u2013 but for all its nebulous muddle, in Josie Rourke\u2019s striking production, it compels.”<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s the beginning of a fascinating exploration of the darker complexities of female erotic fantasy here, but while Chetin-Leuner is careful to avoid moral judgement… Ani\u2019s rapid deterioration obliterates nuance.”<\/p>\n

“Mod gives a terrifically raw performance as Ani; Connolly, Close and Khan all ably play multiple supporting roles”<\/p>\n

“The whole is rich in potential, but to come properly into focus, it needs a stronger point of view.”<\/p>\n

Sam Marlowe, The Stage<\/p>\n

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Read the review<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

More reviews by Sam Marlowe<\/p>\n

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More The Stage reviews<\/p>\n

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Average Rating: 3.4 Stars<\/b> based on 7 reviews<\/p>\n

CriticScore: 69 based on 7 reviews<\/p>\n

Sign-up for booking alerts, offers & news about Porn Play and other shows:<\/b> <\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf7\u00a0Main photo: Porn Play – Royal Court Theatre London. Photo by Helen Murray<\/p>\n

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