The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

Hot Property at Etcetera Theatre

Hot Property at Etcetera Theatre | Theatre review
1 March 2013
Samuel Mensah
Avatar
Samuel Mensah
1 March 2013

Today’s media focuses heavily on our obsession with celebrity culture. Every newspaper, magazine, news report and TV show subjugates us with coverage of the lives of the illusory superior individual, existing in a parallel reality that we see but cannot touch. Perhaps if we were able to collide with their world we would view them differently.

Hot Property, a black comedy written by playwright Matthew Randle, creates a setting in which that possibility becomes a reality. Struggling aspiring actress, Beth (Joanna McCarthy) and her housemate Rob (Pip Gladwin) come into contact with C-list “celeb” and it girl Natalie Darkins (Georgina Morrell) after a chance encounter. The star-struck duo fail to keep Natalie a secret as friends Claudia (a TV producer, played by Tracey Pickup) and Annette (Leanna Wigginton) visit the house.

Meeting Natalie inspires Claudia to concoct a story that will benefit both her and Beth – she sees the chance to exploit the situation and markets Natalie to the press as a reformed feminist icon. However, details of the star’s life surface, and the lies and deceit unravel to ensure a messy ending.

Morrell’s performance as Natalie, a ditsy and ignorant dignitary, is both believable and comedic. Her self-centred persona is matched only by the character of Claudia, played convincingly by Pickup. There are good moments in this production that persuade you to want more from the characters, yet the events that unfold feel like a build up to something that doesn’t come, ending with an anticlimactic disappointment for the audience.

Despite that, the premise is certainly not lost. Randle highlights the fact that the celebrity lifestyle is not always what it seems in glossy print, and in fact its denizens are manipulated into being a product that may not reflect the true self. We seem to forget that these figures are mere humans with the same inane problems as the everyday “civilian”. Hot Property goes a fair way to convey that sentiment.

★★★★★

Samuel Mensah

Hot Property is at Etcetera Theatre until 1st March 2013. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher

Mersa Auda
Read More

We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks

Mersa Auda
Read More

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless

Brooke Snowe
Read More

An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories

Selina Begum
Read More

A Livestream with David Bedella at Crazy Coqs Online

★★★★★
Regan Harle
Read More

Undercover at Morpheus Show Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The White Tiger
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Dig
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Filmmaker’s House
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Assassins
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Capote Tapes
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Barocci: Brilliance and Grace at the National Gallery | Exhibition review
A Strange Wild Song at New Diorama Theatre | Theatre review