The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • 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

In Love and Warcraft at Theatre N16

In Love and Warcraft at Theatre N16 | Theatre review
9 November 2016
Mersa Auda
Avatar
Mersa Auda
9 November 2016

Modern theatre cannot escape technology’s enormous influence on society. The already complex interactions between people are now further blurred by the overwhelming amount of ambiguous virtual information getting in the way of real communication. In Love and Warcraft is the latest production to explore people’s diminishing ability to build healthy bonds as they spend more and more time in front of a screen.

Evie is an avid video game player with a flair for words. When she isn’t engaged in virtual battles on Warcraft, she composes amorous letters, emails and text messages for people wanting to resolve problems with their partners or seduce their love interests. Totally inexperienced in romance herself, Evie fears sex and is content with a virtual, long-distance relationship with Ryan, a fellow Warcraft gamer.

Things get complicated when she meets an interesting guy – in person. She is unable to hide her insecurities and a string of awkward exchanges ensues. Spurred on by her nymphomaniac housemate Kitty, Evie is torn between the virtual world where she is confident and experienced, and real life, which is frightening, but strongly enticing.

Amusing, timely and tragicomic, the play may not delve very deep into the issues it highlights, but it does offer an effective sketch of what it’s like to navigate through relationships in modern times. The cast does a wonderful job of delivering the snappy dialogues and also transmitting the deep-seated anxiety that characterises every interaction.

The set is basic and the audience sits on either side of the intimate performance space, as if looking through invisible walls. The frequent and rapid changes of costumes help keep up the sharp tempo and when, towards the end, the characters must resort to extreme measures to resolve an issue, they plunge into another dimension, allowing the comedy factor to take over.

In Love and Warcraft is thoroughly enjoyable and well acted, but it is a mere lighthearted introduction to a series of issues worth exploring in greater depth.

★★★★★

Mersa Auda
Photo: Jade Thomas

In Love and Warcraft is at Theatre N16 from 6th until 17th November 2016, for further information or to book visit here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Typical at Soho Theatre

★★★★★
Ella Satin
Read More

Grimm Tales for Fragile Times and Broken People

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild

Michael Higgs
Read More

Living Record Festival: Ain’t No Female Romeo

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More

West End Musical Drive In Online

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Hymn at the Almeida Theatre Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Songs for a New World

★★★★★
Sophia Moss
Read More

Night Tree at Pavilion Dance South West Online

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

The Color Purple – At Home at Curve Theatre Online

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Mersa Auda

In Love and Warcraft

★★★★★

Dates

6th November - 17th November 2016

Price

£13-£15

Links & directions

FacebookWebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Swordsman
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Handsome
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Jumbo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Spotlight: Lauren Everet and Soup Kitchen London, striving for food security and social equality
    Food & Drinks
  • Da Capo
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
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

Ekachai at Flat Iron Square | Restaurant review
Trainspotting at the Vaults Theatre | Theatre review