Phillipa and Will Are Now in a Relationship

To poke or not to poke, that is the question. Or at least it is in this breezy tale of Phillipa and Will, two starcrossed lovers that go from Facebook friends to broken hearts in 30 rapid-fire minutes.

Recounted through a series of putatively genuine wall-to-wall messages, read by the two actors as they sit side-by-side in front of their computer screens, Phillipa and Will Are Now in a Relationship proves the old adage that sometimes you can have too much information. As the dates and times on the screen behind them attest, "Willipa" go from snogging at the student union to scribbling "I LOVE YOU" on each other’s wall in just a matter of weeks. A month later they are living together.

The conceit is simple—and, as Phillipa grows increasingly needy, their relationship’s impending doom is as obvious as it is inevitable—but the whole enterprise rattles along at a decent clop and there’s enough sharp one-liners to keep the audience engaged.

Behind the easy laughs, though, lurk some uncomfortable modern day truths. The pair live their lives almost entirely in public and what begins as none too subtle double entendres soon becomes a direct cry of "I want sex!", an imploration that the entire world can see. Watching the neediness engendered in both partners by the potential for constant communication through Facebook is equally disconcerting.