Review Roundup: 0800 CUPID at Soho Theatre

Fresh off the back of a sold out run at Dublin Theatre Festival, 0800 CUPID - a nightclub interruption and queer cabaret explosion set amidst the bright lights of London – brings the vitality and spontaneity of queer counterculture to the main stage at London's Soho Theatre to Saturday 26th October 2024.

Platforming a new generation of Irish diaspora voices and celebrating the creativity of Irish theatre creatives, 0800 CUPID is THISISPOPBABY's newest offering since smash hit WAKE (which made its debut at Dublin Fringe Festival to critical acclaim) and is the latest of the production company's hugely anticipated residencies at Soho Theatre (Panti Bliss: If These Wigs Could Talk, High Heels in Low Places). 

Written by Emer Dineen and directed by Phillip McMahon with music production by Irish EDM legend Elaine Mai, 0800 CUPID fizzes between performance and reality, and is a camp catalyst for reconnection which speaks from a disconnected generation partying as if the world is ending, while struggling with loneliness, the cost of living, comparison and making sense of meaning.

Through her drag persona, crumbling club-kid ‘Cupid', Emer Dineen grapples with love in a lonely capitalist paradigm. Hungover, moulting and disorientated, our redundant deity battles with modern life, unravelling Emer's true story of navigating personal loss, dysfunctional relationships and finding meaningful connection in the city - where she least expected it.

Emer Dineen is the voice and song of a jilted, chronically online generation, with a story that is universal, hilarious and heartfelt. Sliding between fantasy and reality, in 0800 CUPID, Emer takes the audience on a heady musical trip through a fantastical period in her life, looking at her father's dementia diagnosis, her nightlife career as ‘Cupid' (a horny cherub matchmaker), getting diagnosed with Tourette's, being fired from her call centre day job - all while partying under the electric London club lights.

With a cast of three and live band of three, this high-octane queer-party gives a window into the excitement, pressure and creeping anxiety of being untethered in your 20s. Text and music is written by performer Emer Dineen, with co-composition by musical director Tom Beech, and music produced by Irish EDM legend, Elaine Mai. The show unites an incredible design team, elevating the show to an avant garde nightclub come concert aesthetic experience. See what the critics are saying...

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Anya Ryan, The Guardian: There are dark points, but the lighting, sound and anthemic music make the stage burst with colour. By the end though, Dineen’s tale starts to lose its fiery trail. The final moment drops unexpectedly with many strings still hanging. This is a wonder of a story, crying out for a full stop.

Harry Bower, All That Dazzles: The piece is structured around a set of original musical numbers, which are all exceptional. Eclectic but catchy pop smash hits are followed by acoustic Kate-Nash-but-actually-funny style dating tales set to a ukelele, which make way for a Tim Minchin-esque ballads in which Dineen bargains with God. It’s enough to give you whiplash, but it is all just so good. The musical numbers are at their strongest when being sung by our protagonist and it is in the touching final ballad that Dineen as composer flexes her song-writing muscles. The sniffles in the audience were representative of many others who sat with tears rolling silently down their cheeks.

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