Tell Me On a Sunday @ The King's Theatre

“Girl” (yes, that’s her name in the script) is a homely English twenty-something who has moved from Liverpool (updated from Muswell Hill to suit current star Claire Sweeney’s scouse accent) to Manhattan in hope of finding love and the life she’s always wanted. Finally she realises that there is more to life than relationships alone and still has lots of other exciting things to see and do besides. Awww.

The play itself takes the classical form of a song cycle (a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity – first popularised by Franz Schubert). A one-woman-show in which Girl sings song after song about make ups, break-ups and the excitement of in-betweens. She also narrates amusing emails to her mum to let us know how she’s getting on and what she’s been up to – the laughs are welcome.

Sweeney has a smile to die for and exudes sass during the sexy Sheldon Bloom, bubbles with charisma during I’m Very You, You’re Very Me, and overflows with emotion during the heart-wrenching melody of the beautiful title song Tell Me On A Sunday. The play itself is never static, directed by Tamara Harvey. Unfortunately the form itself impedes the efficacy of the plot.

As impressive as it is to watch Claire Sweeney convey the life of Girl in good faith and with talent, we never feel invested or emotionally involved in her relationships because we never meet any of the men she is seeing – subjectively she’s only been going out with him for twenty minutes! Would it be so much to ask to see her on a date with one of these men or at least swooning over a photograph? We don’t know her name, we don’t know her partners, her break ups have little impact on us, and since the show is all about making up and breaking up (sorry feminists) all the Ambassador Theatre Group have to present us with is a well-produced version of poor show that has a couple of really good tunes in it.