Play: Love Lab

Tonight, I was back with Anthony's Cultural Events and Walking Activities Group, back to Westferry Circus.. this time it was for A Woman of No Importance. However, then I got roped into a late evening meeting, so given that this was free - and I wasn't that pushed - I booked for Love Lab, at the Tristan Bates Theatre. Which starts a lot later. The meeting then got cancelled, of course..

Well, that did afford me lots of time in the office, to work on the never-ending list of tasks assigned to me. I stayed quite late, then left my boss hard at it to take the bus to very near our old office, as I told him. I could take either bus that came - the one that required a change happened to come first, but made great time, and gee, my second bus came hard on its heels. For once, I was late enough that there wasn't much traffic down Shaftesbury Avenue - so I made great time overall, and the theatre is right around the corner.

So, this is part of the Camden Fringe, and this was the opening night. In this theatre, they have your name on a list, and give you a laminated ticket. We were kept waiting for ages, I'm afraid.. and the bar was too crowded for me to bother getting anything. Crowds downstairs, crowds outside the door - it was a relief when they finally let us in, five minutes late. Unassigned seating, of course - I was one of the first in, and took a seat in the front row. Natch. Small theatre, pretty much full tonight.

Love Lab takes its theme from the zeitgeist of reality tv shows, with a young man and woman enclosed in a windowless, doorless room for a week - to get to know each other. In the company of a disembodied electronic voice, which spends most of its time asking them questions - the show also takes its inspiration from the "36 questions" used in a 1967 experiment to get two strangers to fall in love. They're given food, toilet facilities, and bedding. And a first aid kit. Off we go. Oh, and of course, there are cameras everywhere - and they're not allowed to come out until their week is finished.

I hate reality tv shows. I think they're stupid and boring, a complete waste of time - and exploitative. And yes, this show brings up all of these themes. The electronic voice becomes grating, the contestants get stir-crazy and paranoid. But by 'eck they've made a compelling play out of it - lasting an hour, it runs through a gamut of emotions as they get to know each other, one decides they don't like the scenario, the other is willing to play along. Emotions are bared, and an issue is made of how deeply the programme delves into their pasts, and private lives. And I'm sorry to admit, when it came to the crunch, I was as anxious as anyone to know whether they'd choose to love, or to leave. A really nice, concise, on-the-nail analysis of reality tv. Realistic enough that the audience was joining in with the conversations, and gasped at the conclusion! Recommended - runs until Saturday.

Tomorrow, with nothing on Meetup that I was interested in (and hadn't done), I'm headed with my £3.60 club to a play called Faith & Heresy, at The Bread & Roses in Clapham. Meetup is pretty quiet this week, given that many of Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) are up at the Edinburgh Fringe.

On Wednesday - sorry, London Literary Walks, you didn't advertise early enough! Instead, I'm off with North London Friends for Things of Dry Hours, at the Young Vic.

On Thursday, I'm headed to Soho Theatre for The One. Then back to Ireland for the weekend, again.

Next Monday, I'm going with UITCS to the Arcola, for Elephant Steps.

On the 21st, the £3.60 club is providing me with a ticket to see Aprile Millo perform at Cadogan Hall. Gotta say, terrific value for something whose official prices start at £35!

And on the 22nd, again, off with UITCS to the Camden Fringe. We're seeing Secondhand Stories and Whimsy, two short plays at The Lion and Unicorn. I would have been missing an evening with London Literary Walks that day, but he's now moved it anyway.