Blind Date at Charing Cross

After extremely successful runs in Toronto and New York, Blind Date has come to London. A unique improvisational performance, this play is immersive, fun and full of wit.   

Rebecca Northan, the creator and star of the show, plays Mimi – a charming, quirky, French woman who is going on a blind date. 

At the beginning of the night Mimi scouts her date out of audience members in the foyer, and then announces who will be joining her on stage once everyone has taken their seats. Every night she has a new date. The chosen man need not be afraid though: far from being an uncomfortable or embarrassing experience, Mimi manages to get both the audience and her date relaxed and laughing within the first few minutes. There are inevitably some awkward moments, but the awkwardness of the improvisation parallels the discomfort of a first date so well that, if you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was rehearsed. 

Set in a little café, the two people on the date get to know each other. Northan is brilliant in her ability to charm her date into relaxing and opening up some of the most private details of his life to a room full of strangers. By smoothly and consistently breaking the fourth wall she includes everyone in these intimate moments, as if the whole room is on the date. In these moments the play can be surprisingly deep, managing to touch on some of our most profound and emotional experiences as human beings. The honesty is poignant and highly relatable. 

Northan is an extremely good judge of the room, and has the audience immediately laughing again once the atmosphere gets too serious. The playful and quick-witted Mimi manages to be thought provoking, surprising and outrageously funny all at the same time. She is the perfect blind date. 

Verdict: ★★★★★

Alice Fitzgerald

Blind Date is on at Charing Cross Theatre until 13^th July 2013. For further information or to book visit here.