"Cougar" by Rose Lewenstein.

Mary Rose Productions.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

It was a last minute ticket offer that tempted me into the theatre tonight, and I saw something that I don't like seeing; an almost empty theatre, and I can't really understand why as the theatre company were actually giving away tickets to fill the auditorium online.

Mary Rose Productions is an award-winning theatre company based in Portsmouth.

A succession of hotel rooms. Two People. Drama. "Cougar" is a daring, surreal exploration of love, lust, and human chaos.

Leila, played by April Singley, is a driven climate activist, and John, played by Joseph John Scatley, a bartender at the hotel where Leila is attending a conference, are brought together by chance — and soon discover that desire, ambition, and secrets make for an explosive combination. Lucas Moss is the third character who is billed as The Young Man and pops up in a couple of different roles.

The title "Cougar" straight away brings to mind a man-eating older woman, almost preying on younger men, but it's not like that at all. In one of the first scenes she asks if he is OK with what they are doing, but let's face it, any young man, practically naked in a hotel bedroom, paid for by the company of an attractive older woman is never going to decline the opportunity are they? Highlighting either a young man's fantasy or his animal and basic instincts.

There are a couple of scenes where stage sex is involved but you never see anything that would shock your mother and the scenes are very carefully choreographed to not show any more than what you may see in an after the watershed TV programme. There's one very short section where John changes his boxers on stage and his back is towards the audience while he does this, so you only get to see a bare bottom. But this play is not about sex, it's about the relationship between these two, and by the end of the play three people.

The intimacy Coordinator did an excellent job of bringing out the passion between Leila and John but not at the expense of sordidness or smut. As Kenny Everett once said, it was all done in "the best possible taste".

Leila tells John not to fall in love, so she has set her cards out on the table at the start, but she is not doing anything more than what a lot of men with power and money do. They make it clear that it's just for the sex and the laughs, but then John falls for her, and that's where the jealousy comes in and the green-eyed monster starts to rise. At this stage the fireworks and explosions also start. 

Everything takes place in hotel rooms with various scenes separated by total blackouts where the actors either take off clothes or put them back on and rearrange themselves either in the bed, on the bed or around the room.

Directed by Alex Taylor who teases you to the theatre with titillation, but once you're in there gives you a story where the sexual tables are turned and the woman is in control of the situation, that is until the end of the play. Yes, there are sub themes of climate control but this play is about a different kind of control.

Christian Masters is the Production Designer.

Joseph Williams is the Technician.

Anna Francesca Cherches is the Sustainability Coordinator.

Joseph John Scatley and April Singley are also Co-Artistic Directors for Mary Rose Productions.

This was a one night only performance and the final of four studio performances of this play.