UP4AMEET?
Oval House Theatre, London

Stephen Doran

The Strawberry Theatre at the Oval is a fitting venue for this self-labelled 'naked gay comedy' - the walls are of the brightest pink to be seen. But don't let the wall colour deter you from viewing new writing at this venue.

UP4AMEET is based on the 'gay internet scene' and set around the fictional website www.cockshop.com. Underneath all the comic misunderstandings and the gratuitous nudity of the evening's entertainment, there is a hard-hitting comment about the blasé use of the internet. Of course internet 'chat rooms' are currently a source of anxiety for rather different reasons, and this play can't help but highlight the problems of regulating the internet's users and potential users, as well as the broader issue of how some of us how can't help but lie to strangers.

It's a simple, vibrant tale, written by Jeff Moody and Simon Peek, and it picks up tremendous pace from the start, though it may benefit from tighter direction. The cast showed no signs of inhibitions, and all were happy to give the audience what they wanted. Indeed the Spanish naturist Costas (Paul Sugars) who's taken to nudity and sex as a way of dealing with his father's death, struts around the stage with a supreme self-assurance, titillating the audience to no end. The real delight of the evening is Caroline, a feisty, high-flying career girl living in a world of gay men, who is rendered perfectly by the overwhelming Madeline Moore.

Personally I went to the theatre apprehensive and left feeling relieved, but this play's success can only be measured by the continuous roars of delight engulfing the audience.

Till 8 February