In Real Life (IRL)

3
Reviewer's rating

New, all-female theatre group Sheer Feisty share their cautionary tale of love online in In Real life (IRL).  This modern love-story will resonate with anyone who has spent a little too long gazing at someone’s Facebook page or liked one too many instagram photos to be considered socially acceptable. There is, the show suggests, a fine line between online friendship and becoming an accidental stalker.

Anna (Aella Jordan-Edge) and Jay (Elizabeth B. Harris) work together. Alice and Jay have an online relationship that is becoming increasingly heated despite the fact they have never met. What Jay doesn’t know is that Alice is really Anna with a fake email account. The results are funny but also worrying, even more so as In Real Life is apparently based on a true story.

Jordan-Edge and Co-Artistic Director Sorcha Scott-Strzala have created a current and experimental piece with a lot of potential although its execution needs work in places. There are some great one liners hidden in the occasionally confused script which are delivered with casual brilliance by Jennifer Wakely as Sven/Janet/Margarite/Poppy/Nikki. Wakely steals most of the characters, a lot of the best lines and all of her scenes with a performance that totally overshadows the rest of the show. She is going places and, with a bit more practice, Sheer Feisty might be too.