Nicola Wren’s one-woman show describes the hundreds of modern-day anxieties we all face in the dating world due to social media and technology. In her solo performance, Wren plays a woman who, whilst on the tube, meets a man after a conversation is struck when he asks her why she isn’t eating the green Starbursts. After getting his number, she decides to call him and from there on their relationship begins. But you can sense from the beginning that things may not work out too well, as she slowly discovers that he is not the man she thought or wanted him to be.
There is potential here for this to be a truly charming piece which exposes the rituals of dating in the modern age of social technology.
This is definitely a fun and playful show which, due to its subject matter, the audience can easily relate to. Wren is goofy and charming, providing a likeable character who we can laugh alongside with: we can relate to and understand the many things she has done in the world of dating. It is also at times smart and insightful. Nicola exposes how people value and judge their relationships as something to be tweeted, Instagrammed and Facebooked, because only when they share it with the world do they feel that their relationship is validated and real.
Although there are funny moments, with the Dolly Parton impersonation being one of the comedic highlights, I feel that overall it isn’t as funny as it needs to be. Her one-liners did give a few chuckles but they are intermittent and far between. For a one-woman show about dating, there is a lot more potential to heighten the comedic aspect and this is what lets the show down overall. But there is potential here for this to be a truly charming piece which exposes the rituals of dating in the modern age of social technology.
