Eight

Even in this age of reality-TV voting and user-generated content, ‘interactive' retains a capacity to strike fear into the heart of all but the most intrepid theatrical explorer. Luckily, the spectator’s participation begins and ends before the lights come up on this darkly funny collection of monologues from the Edinburgh University Theatre Company. The premise is straightforward: the audience, presented on arrival with eight different characters, chooses which four they want to hear from.

What ties these seemingly disparate figures together is that they all have something to say about modern Britain. Miles is an American businessman and an eyewitness to one of the July 2005 London terrorist attacks, Danny an ex-soldier recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, and Milly an up-market prostitute who mourns the passing of the good old British class system. Today’s last character, Mona, is an unhappy girl raised by bohemian parents who—in an impressively unsettling performance from Alice Bonifacio—finds an unusual redemption in the arms of the Lord.

All four benefit from some sharp writing and an immensely quotable script, which generates empathy and hilarity in just the right proportion. If there is one criticism, it is that Eight’s handling of weightier themes like war and prostitution occasionally borders on the glib.

An engaging, offbeat snapshot of modern life, Eight, or rather, four is enough to leave you hungry for more.