Games For Lovers - The Vaults

[Dr Tom]

This is currently playing at The Vaults, running until 25 August 2019.

It's billed as a new comedy by Ryan Craig. A cast of two men and two women exploring dating and relationships for young people in the modern age.

Pretty full tonight, although I imagine a lot of people had the same very cheap ticket offer as me. A nice touch is that everyone was given a free programme.

It's in one of the better spaces in The Vaults. The same one, if I recall, which housed Hair. The stage area in the centre and two tiers of seating at either side. As well as the standard seating (on folded chairs), there are two rows of two seater sofas on each side at the front, essentially the premium seats. The sofas don't match at all, but look comfy, so would be a great place to sit, apart from the fact it's incredibly obvious when people didn't find the play at all funny, or left during the interval.

Most of the seating is unallocated and the doors were already open by the time I arrived, so you do want to get their early. I managed to get a second row General Admission seat (fourth row if you include the sofas) and even there the sound wasn't perfect, particularly when the trains went past, or during the times there was music played in the background.

Now, I think this was a funny play for those under about 25. That was largely reflected in the divide between those people who were and weren't laughing. I'm not saying there weren't some funny moments for all, but the style of humour was largely along the "50 quid to p*** in your mouth" variety, which I presume must be reflective of modern dating.

The first 10 minutes were everything I hate about modern plays. Loud music, constant jumps from character to character thoughts as a large ball was thrown around, random dancing. It did calm down after thankfully, so I wasn't one of the people who left during the interval. But I didn't warm to any of the characters, who were probably there to be stereotypically annoying. There were also several major plot points that were just never closed off.

One strength of the play was the set. Lots of interesting shaped solid pieces in several colours which could be dragged into position to form beds, bars and tables. I also found a fun activity in counting the number of sides to some of the shapes.

Running time, about 2 hours 10 minutes, with a 25 minute interval.

The cast did their best, but they can only work with what they're given.

[robertb213]

Jul 18, 2019 21:20:05 GMT Dr Tom said:

This is currently playing at The Vaults, running until 25 August 2019.

It's billed as a new comedy by Ryan Craig. A cast of two men and two women exploring dating and relationships for young people in the modern age.

Pretty full tonight, although I imagine a lot of people had the same very cheap ticket offer as me. A nice touch is that everyone was given a free programme.

It's in one of the better spaces in The Vaults. The same one, if I recall, which housed Hair. The stage area in the centre and two tiers of seating at either side. As well as the standard seating (on folded chairs), there are two rows of two seater sofas on each side at the front, essentially the premium seats. The sofas don't match at all, but look comfy, so would be a great place to sit, apart from the fact it's incredibly obvious when people didn't find the play at all funny, or left during the interval.

Most of the seating is unallocated and the doors were already open by the time I arrived, so you do want to get their early. I managed to get a second row General Admission seat (fourth row if you include the sofas) and even there the sound wasn't perfect, particularly when the trains went past, or during the times there was music played in the background.

Now, I think this was a funny play for those under about 25. That was largely reflected in the divide between those people who were and weren't laughing. I'm not saying there weren't some funny moments for all, but the style of humour was largely along the "50 quid to p*** in your mouth" variety, which I presume must be reflective of modern dating.

The first 10 minutes were everything I hate about modern plays. Loud music, constant jumps from character to character thoughts as a large ball was thrown around, random dancing. It did calm down after thankfully, so I wasn't one of the people who left during the interval. But I didn't warm to any of the characters, who were probably there to be stereotypically annoying. There were also several major plot points that were just never closed off.

One strength of the play was the set. Lots of interesting shaped solid pieces in several colours which could be dragged into position to form beds, bars and tables. I also found a fun activity in counting the number of sides to some of the shapes.

Running time, about 2 hours 10 minutes, with a 25 minute interval.

The cast did their best, but they can only work with what they're given.

Agree with pretty much all of that. An OK couple of hours but glad I only paid £12.50. Can't say I laughed or related to much of it, but then as a 38-year-old gay man I'm probably not supposed to! Others around me seemed to really enjoy it though and I've seen far worse.

This felt like a different space to where Hair was though, but I might be wrong. They might have 3 spaces. Before this year I thought they only had 1!

[showgirl]

Maybe this has bedded in now or it's a matter of taste but I really relished this at the matinee today; I laughed out loud quite a lot and wasn't the only one. Not an age issue in my case, either, as I'm 60-something.  I certainly didn't notice anyone leaving at the interval and it was interesting to see, in a fringe venue, a play by a writer who has had others staged in larger and more mainstream London venues (The Holy Rosenbergs at the NT and Filthy Business at Hampstead Theatre.)

[Someone in a tree]

I really liked the set and I thought the actors and director did the best they could with the material but it really wasn't for me. Nice set though!

[djp]

Considerably over 25.

The comedy works - judging by the hisses and laughs  at the outrageous,  the laughter throughout ,  and the volume and length of applause at the end. The politically correct, non confrontational millennials, and those  shockable, by anything that utters a non PC view, will struggle. That seems to be the split in the press reviews too.

The cast is excellent , The males are convincingly shallow, loud, damaged and annoying. The females have great stage presence and convey their changing, complex, characters well. The set is well thought out, and the choregraphy is pleasantly dynamic and changes the pace up nicely,  to avoid settling into one style.

We don't get to hear her sing, but Tessie Orange-Turner's acting suggest she's one MT performer we should hear more of. Evanna Lynch not only showcases her acting, she also shows how well she can move , after her Dancing with the Stars run - someone should use that dancing skill again, and find out if she can sing too........

[showgirl]

Re the cast: I'll certainly be looking out for Billy Postlethwaite (son of Peter), of whom I'd never heard, though having looked him up I see he's done things for which others here will know him. To me he looked distractingly like Adam Garcia but I may be alone in that view. Not intending to discount the rest of the cast but of the 4, BP seemed to have the most distinctive appearance and the most flamboyant, swaggering role, so inevitably made more of an impression. However, I really liked the fact that though the play was written by a man, the men received their come-uppance at the end!