It was never easy getting to meet people - well, let's be honest, women - if you were a sociopathic, geeky misanthrope. So, at least to an old fart like me, it looks that there interweb thingummy must have made dating life a lot easier for sad loser types. Hasn't it? It's not as if there could be any hidden dangers, could there?
That's the basic premise of Love 2.0, a short two hander about the impact of social media on twenty first century courtship, and the problems it can lead to. Gary sees Suzie's photo on Facebook and asks her to be his friend. Then sets about a campaign to meet her face to face by making himself appear to be the ideal candidate for a long term relationship. But when they finally get together he finds it hard to live up to the persona he has created for himself, and events will later spiral out of his control.
With most of the communication taking place electronically the simplest solution might have been to present the audience with a couple of large screens to read. Sleeping Warrior Theatre Company have gone for a far more low tech approach, which is also much funnier. Large boards with pictures and messages represent Facebook pages, text messages are sent by sticking a post-it note on the person, and, my favourite, two tin cans and a length of string stand in for Skype. This provides several good visual gags and adds further laughs to what's already an extremely funny script. There is a great deal of miscommunication and misunderstanding, and the audience gets to see both sides of the story. One of the funniest plays I've seen, with a creepy element underlying the humour, you are able to see how easy it is for digital conversations to lead to disaster. Definitely worth an hour of your time.
Love 2.0 is touring Scotland for most of March.
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