Park theatre, London
Tori-Allen Martin’s two-hander opens with the audience watching at home – then the second half is performed in person
The concept is the strongest part of Tori Allen-Martin’s two-act play, the first half of which we watch prerecorded at home, the second live in the theatre. Following the performers from screen to stage is a smart form of storytelling, creating a sense of anticipation with the prebuilt backstory we uncover online. But that’s where the innovation stops with this two-hander.
Filmed as if on Zoom, act one finds Liv (Allen-Martin) and Theo (Tim Bowie) catching up during the pandemic after a fraught break in their more-than-friendship. Online, they joke and push through small talk, clear that something harder to discuss lies underneath. Directed by Christa Harris, this first part has the natural pace of Zoom conversations that we’re now so familiar with, but after two years of jolting screens and missed sentences, it comes too late in the wave of pandemic theatre to feel anything other than formulaic.