What If
Predictable and tensionless, there are few insights about MySpace to be found here
The absence of a ‘script-writer’ in the programme suggests that either no-one wished to take responsibility for the weakest part of this production, or that the dialogue was cobbled together in collaboration by the cast and creative team. Either way, the competent score, the attention grabbing set and the enthusiastic performances cannot compensate for the less than rudimentary appreciation of the possibilities of theatre.
All three characters – internet stalker Neil, unscrupulous journalist Josh and fantasy projection She – are unsympathetic. Basing a play on the growth of sites like MySpace and Facebook is predictable and – in this case – deeply facile. The deepest insight offered is that there can be a disparity between online and offline identities. The narrator intrudes far too much, turning the play into a storytelling session, and the lack of tension is so palpable that What If? barely registers as a narrative.
About as exciting as watching an internet café, it sets its sights low and fails to achieve them. Narrator Naveed Khan has a soothing voice and measured tone, Alexis Terry is appropriately lovelorn while Jonah Dill-D’Ascoli and James Cooper make the best of their one-dimensional characters: but sympathy for the performers is a poor substitute for engagement.