Review: Laugh Out Loud (Cry Quietly) by Arkle Theatre Company

"I'll give you an out call," Tess (Abigail Sinclair) offers her friend Rachel (Catriona Bone) ahead of a date. It's a standard element of 21st-century romance, part gossip and part excuse to leave an uncomfortable situation early. How I wished I'd arranged a similar option with my mates before heading into this revival of Laugh Out Loud (Cry Quietly).

Stacie Lents' play chronicles the ins and outs of dating – in 2008. It's bizarre seeing how quickly attitudes have changed: a judgemental chat about online dating sites feels out of touch now Tinder's in its sixth year, and this gulf between script and audience relatability is only widened by stilted delivery. Bone offers a glimmer of redemption in the cast but largely the tone is at best, amateur and at worst, awkward. Despite revisiting several established relationships there's no chemistry between siblings, close friends or lovers.

The series of vignettes could be carried off with some irony but Jana Doughty's direction takes the play at face value, meaning the assholery of men (lying about their religion, adultery) is played sincerely but in women eating disorders and outrage are laughable "quirks". It's the online interactions that really sting, though. The script grinds to a halt because every interaction requires a character stating their username, emails copied into a correpondance, and punctuation. I'm not talking every conversation, it's every message in a conversation. 

Add this to the fact that characters recite their every emoji used like a parent desperately trying to appear relevant? Frowny face.