After matching online, two strangers—Heléne Yorke (“The Other Two”) and Michael Zegen (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)—meet in real life. The vibe is off, and the conversation is a mess. Yet something is keeping them in their seats. What begins as a typical date off the apps spirals into something unexpected in a bold new production of Strategic Love Play, the show that sold out in London and took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm. From “Succession” writer Miriam Battye and director Katie Posner comes the New York debut of the award-winning, razor-sharp “comedic tour de force” (The Guardian) that The Evening Standard calls “as gripping as a friend’s rapid-fire texts from a disastrous first date."
Strategic Love Play is like a good first date that nonetheless lacks a spark — it's not memorable enough for a second round, but a pleasant time while you're there, largely due in part to Yorke and Zegen's individual excellence and common chemistry.
Unfortunately, clichés abound throughout this thin exploration of conscious coupledom, directed with regrettably slack rhythms by Katie Posner. The romantic comedy genre is not an endlessly deep well, but it feels as if we’ve encountered every plot point under a more interesting guise before. Jenny (Heléne Yorke), staring down the barrel of another year alone, tries desperately to convince herself that love requires compromise. Adam (Michael Zegen), a prototypical nice guy, pines for a female friend now married to a man of whom he doesn’t approve. In the script, the characters are called simply “Woman” and “Man,” perhaps in a nod to universality—but it also underscores the lack of specificity or personality in much of Battye’s writing.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
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