theSpace @ Surgeons Hall
Aug 26 (16:05)

Fabas Indulcet Fames

As a man who spent the first half of his life in the analogue era, & the second in the digital, I remain resolute & steadfast in my decision NOT to find someone via the internet to go out with on a date. Where’s the magic in that – no, my poetical spirit just finds the whole thing icky. Saying that, a lot of people have gone on to find meaningful & lasting relationships via the internet, two of which, altho’ obviously dramatical creations, are Wendy & Liam, a couple of Irish emotional misfits whose journey thro’ the seven spheres of love-falling is play’d out with a reyt sense of humor, like – I laugh’d harder & deeper during the Bad Daters than I I had even the best comedians I have seen thus far at the Fringe.

‘I’m bored out my tits – say something interesting or I’m out of here‘ – Wendy

Of our two characters, the star of the show is Wendy (Sarah Maria Lafferty) & her brooding underlooks, mainly because the man she meets, Liam (Brian Gallagher) plays rather a subdued-of-soul fella, a gentle foil to Wendy’s tempest. She comes across as a coarse-chopping, anxiety-boiling cauldron of entertainment that shouldn’t be in the dating game, but is driven by the primal need for the perpetuation of the species which drives us all into a need for a mate. Let the thawing of the Ice Queen ensue!

Other elements to this play include, of course, Derek Murphy’s incredibly canny writing, he is reyt on the pulse, like, but I also lov’d all the physical nuances the actors brought to the play, such as the one time Wendy look’d happy about spending time with Liam while speaking to her sister (I think) on the phone – a smile that Liam would never see, hidden as it was by her turbulent soul. Yes, The Bad Daters, this flaw’d & fluttering humming of harden’d hearts, is a pure paean to the awkwardness of love-matching, & is a proper bangin‘ treat!

Damo