Strategic Love Play’s long life continues. After success at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, Miriam Battye’s play earned itself a London transfer to the Soho Theatre (twice) before making the leap across the pond to New York’s off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre late last year.
Now it makes its way to Audible, where an even wider audience will have the opportunity to join Jenny (Heléne Yorke) and Adam (Michael Zegen) on a first date. Things start awkwardly – despite both swiping right on a dating app, the pair clearly aren’t a match – but Jenny enforces a ‘two-drink minimum’ on the conversation as Adam seeks to find a way out of the date.
Battye is telling us just how awful dating is, and Jenny passionately makes the case for settling for something less than love: companionship, or at the very least, not being alone. She eschews standard dating procedure and plots a new course for the evening, which Adam can just about get on board with if he can stop talking about his ex.
Running at an hour long, it has lost about 10 minutes from its stage running time – a chunky 15% of its content – yet it still feels too long: everything that happens in Katie Posner’s production is too awkward, each exchange too drawn out. It’s funny at times, but you get the sense that Battye isn’t fully sure where she wants to take it, which may in part explain the play’s blunt ending.
Mirroring their characters, Yorke and Zegen (who made up the New York cast) feel mismatched and the moments where the two find harmony feel unbelievable. Battye gives us little clue to Jenny’s motivations which is perhaps why Yorke frequently ramps things up against Zegen’s more studied take on Adam.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
