Perry (Michael Rivers) wakes up in a room with Livia (Harriet Barrow). They are in Love Lab, and for one week they won’t be able to leave the room. They will be scrutinised by many cameras and millions of viewers who will want to know if they will fall in love or not.
The two are very different: Livia is a cold and calculating blogger and influencer desperately looking for fame (and probably this is the reason of her presence there?), while Perry is an old-fashioned guy, who like to sit and talk having a good cup of tea, does not use dating apps and seems much more approachable and warm then his counterpart. Will differences be stronger than love?
The great acting and the intelligent use of lights make the audience feel uncomfortably trapped in the room - like Perry and Livia - and this is great because it makes palpable the growing tension between the couple, that often explodes into anger. We are witnesses of an artificial experiment of creating love and we follow Perry and Livia's funny dialogues on their personalities, but also ons ocial media, society, and modern dating.
But in the 45 minutes of its run, the play does not have the time and the depth to explore these issues.
Even if the result is not really a show that addresses “our obsession with the digital world and how social media and reality TV affect our pursuit of true love” (as explained in the programme), Love Lab is a very enjoyable play that will make you reflect about the real meaning of love and, somehow, life.
Love Lab runs until 18/8