one4review | On 26, Aug 2026

What do men actually say about women when there are no women around? That was the question behind Gary McNair and Orla O’Loughlin’s Locker Room Talk when it premiered ten years ago, inspired by Donald Trump’s infamous dismissal of his sexually aggressive comments. Its return to the Traverse is an opportunity to ask a rather more uncomfortable question: how much has actually changed?
The premise is straightforward enough. The production takes the words of real men, recorded during interviews, and has them performed verbatim by a cast of women. The conceit is made clear from the outset when one of the performers walks on and introduces herself, with a perfectly straight face, as Gary McNair, the writer of the show.
The performers don’t simply reproduce the words. They reproduce the recordings themselves, using iPhone headphones to stay precisely in sync with the original voices and capturing every laugh, grunt, hesitation and pause. It is an impressive technique, and the performances are excellent.
There is plenty of humour, too, and some lines are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. But the uncomfortable realisation gradually dawns that what you’re laughing at is often pretty shocking. The comedy makes the material easier to listen to, but perhaps also makes its more disturbing aspects even more apparent.
The result is particularly uncomfortable from a male perspective. Much of what is said is depressingly familiar, while some of it is difficult to believe anyone would actually say out loud. Yet that is precisely the point: these are real words, spoken by real men.
Ten years on, the production feels like a genuine wake-up call. The world may have changed considerably in that time, but listening to these conversations makes you realise that some attitudes haven’t changed nearly enough. The “locker room” has also expanded into group chats and online spaces where the same attitudes can flourish.
Uncomfortable, funny and thought-provoking in equal measure, Locker Room Talk is a powerful reminder of how much still needs to change. I’d recommend catching it … if you can manage to wake up in time for the 9.15am start!
****
Reviewed by Howard

Traverse 1 at Traverse Theatre
09.15 to 10.15
Until 30th August