ADVENTUROUS (Jermyn Street Theatre/Stream Theatre)***

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/62 

Available until: Livestreams at various times every day except Monday until Sunday 28^th March, including livestreams for USA and Australasia.

Adventurous is a romantic comedy set in lockdown. I do think it’s quite naughty, but probably not too naughty for someone my age. I don’t think many things are too naughty for most people my age.

It’s about Richard and Ros, who meet online. He’s separated from his wife, with whom he shares three children. Ros has never been married, but she was a carer for her disabled sister, who has recently died. So they’ve both quite recently had quite a lot of freedom… except they haven’t because the whole country has gone into lockdown.

They meet online and it’s awkward but sweet. They are both quite shy and awkward. Ros is nervous and quite often says the wrong thing and Richard is easily embarrassed so it is almost painful but not quite. They share lots of revelations and secrets and learn more and more about each other’s lives. Maybe too much. A lot of Ian Hallard’s script is very funny, but it’s not just surface comedy. They are two people who have suffered a lot and some parts of their lives are very serious and I think this comes into the conversation in a realistic way.

I think it’s really sad what Ros says about how people with disabilities can be horrible. I’m sure some of them are, but it’s still sad to hear people say that, especially about their siblings. I will never ever say that about Arran because he’s lovely and we help each other. There are some foot in mouth moments in Adventurous which are funny, but I think this one went a little bit too far? But maybe I just feel that way because some people think Arran is horrible if he can’t talk to them or if he needs to have time out and that makes me extra sensitive?

I think it is realistic though. I watched an interview with Pippa Evans from the Showstoppers and she says people often blurt out inappropriate things when they are panicking. She was talking more about when people are trying to do funny improvisations, but she also said that most of the conversations we have are an improvisation. A play isn’t quite an improvisation – the different drafts might be a sort of improvisation, but you get to go back and edit it to make it better. But the characters in the play don’t know they’re speaking lines so it would be an improvisation from both their points of view and the playwright is usually trying to make it sound like an improvised conversation. Ros actually says in the play that she’d like to be funny and a lot of the comments she makes are an attempt to be funny.

Khadifa Wong is the director. The Zoom scenes look like real Zoom scenes and she has used the technique of sometimes having both characters onscreen and sometimes just the person who is speaking. When there’s just one person onscreen, it’s like they’re going into a close-up and it always feels like a good moment for that. There are also some scenes that aren’t on Zoom and these work really well too. There is a lot of onscreen humour and it is really interesting to see how different organisations keep people safe during the pandemic.

As well as being the writer, Ian Hallard also plays Richard. He is really sweet and endearing and he has a lovely way of looking shocked without looking critical. If he was thirty years younger, I wouldn’t be put off by the things he says at all. Sara Crowe is really good at seeming really nervous and she is good at delivering Ros’ less advisable comments in either an innocent way or an emotional way. Ros gains in confidence during the play and this is something Ms Crowe shows really well, you can gradually see it building.

Adventurous is a really good story. I don’t think everything that happens in it is a good thing, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad play. Some of the best plays are about people who do things which they really shouldn’t. Iago definitely shouldn’t have done all the things he did, but I’m quite glad he did or Othello wouldn’t have been nearly as good.