For summer at the Young Vic, why not pop into a Bournemouth brothel, because Alecky Blythe's warm-hearted production really is holding a mirror - or a microphone - up to life. Seen last year at the Royal Court, The Girlfriend Experience is another notch on the bedpost for verbatim theatre where real-life conversations are used as a script for a play; here, the actors listen to the original recordings of the four prostitutes during the performance, a technique that ensures they capture the women's chatter "with eerie verisimilitude" (The Daily Telegraph). And if you've already started conjuring up images of grotty bedsits and street-walking druggies, then think again - these are exactly the kind of preconceptions Blythe wants to dispel with her world of gnomes, flat-pack furniture and PVC pants. As well as the hilarity, there are tinges of tragedy - "cryingly funny", said The Telegraph - an under-the-skin sadness hinging on 'the girlfriend experience', which they offer clients with kissing and cuddling but are truly afraid of never experiencing.
(Image: Alastair Muir)
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