I Just Broke up!
White Bear Theatre, London

Stephen Doran

Originally written for the acclaimed Athens-based theatre company, Omada Drassis, with a successful five-year run, Manolis Emmanouel's translation receives its British premiere from a company devoted to introducing new international plays to the London stage.

Eclectic have assembled a fine cast of young actors to try to breath life into an otherwise dormant script, with smutty innuendos left, right and centre, you can't help feel that the widely experienced Vassilis Mirianthopoulo (one of the original writers) has failed to get the most from his energetic actors.

Billed as a modern farce, there is very little original humour in this production to offer anything other than a cheap thrill, rather opting for the obvious sexual references, in fact making very hard to sympathise with any of the characters dilemmas, alienating the audience and leaving many to feeling exhausted.

On the plus side, Maira Vazeou's wonderfully detailed design of young twentysomethings' central London flat is a true delight, adding to the 'fun and games' of the evening.

Shannon Fairchild shows expert comic timing as the over-zealous Yvonne, while Gavin Molloy demonstrates a higher level of training as a shy 'pizza boy' dragged in to a night of shenanigans. Just a shame they were let down by the quality of the script.

There was more than enough though, to suggest that the London theatregoers are well advised to keep abreast of future Eclectic productions.