Games For Lovers Review – The Vaults

GAMES FOR LOVERS

A review by Tanya Howard

Four millennials looking for sex, love and a well-located flat find themselves caught in a complex game of rivalry, desire and seduction. As the cost of happiness soars, how can they negotiate the new rules of modern relationships and win the game of love?
Gone are the days of chance encounters, childhood sweethearts are rarely heard of and does anyone even write love letters anymore. Now are the days of dating apps, awkward Instagram DM’s and unsolicited photos of people’s junk.

Ryan Craig’s Games For Lovers looks at analysing relationships in this modern day and age, but the story is broken up with musical interludes and monologues that don’t always sync with the story and at times feel awkward and confusing.

The premise behind the piece has merit but I’m not sure it was executed in the best manner. There were moments of hilarity and you could see that the actors were putting everything into their performances but the story and breaks from said story worked against them.

I will say that the second half of the show definitely improved and brought it back a little from the first half which felt a little dragged out and did not pique my interest as much as I thought it would. Billy Postlethwaite keeps the story alive with bounteous comedy as he portrays Darren (or Wham) the high school geek who wants the world to see him as a serial womaniser, so he’ll never have to deal with rejection again.

Evanna Lynch is sincere and welcoming as Martha, the classic quiet girl next door style character, secretly in love with her best friend, Logan. Logan comes across to friends as a Jack the lad kind of bloke but behind closed doors with women he is insecure and uncomfortable with his girlfriend’s heightened sex drive. Something I was happy that the play touched on as this is usually a characteristic reserved for women as of course we could never have a higher sex drive than our boyfriends.

A particularly funny scene is when Logan has an erratic monologue about Calvinism whilst he is being given oral sex by his girlfriend who is role playing a prostitute. All the actors had great chemistry and the second half did end with a amusing yet touching conclusion, and I was happy it was not the stereotypical happily ever after which is a rarity in real life it seems.

I can’t say you’ll leave The Vaults with any new thoughtful perspectives on love and modern dating but the need for a play examining this is very apt and needed. The growth of finding love on apps has made love and dating more disposable with the simple ease of swiping right every time an argument happens. The show is a light hearted piece that had the potential but just did not pack the punch I was expecting.