Writer: Giles Fernando
Director: Penny Gkritzapi
Originally a YouTube series, #ModernRomance is now a stage performance ready to capture audiences with their take on romance for this Valentine’s Day. Paradigm Productions aims to skip those corny, typical fluff pieces by offering a funny look at love.
With a dozen couples, half in person while the other half are on a screen, this play jumps right into the first couple. This couple is on screen, and the one following is in person. The rest of the play follows this format. The dialogue is smooth, and the acting is well done, and each person has chemistry with their partner. Each couple has a unique story of how they started dating, from flirting in a holding cell to a French class to football matches and therapy sessions. This production also does a great job of including a wide variety of actors to properly represent different age groups, sexual orientations, and mixed-race couples.
There are many moments of humour that are borderline cheesy, full of innuendos related to the couples when they first started to date each other. These jokes are clever, but after a while, they grow tedious as many of the couples have similar jokes.
There is a disconnect between the 12 couples. An introduction to set up how and why these couples are selected would better explain why they are telling their stories. This would give the stories more depth.
Having six couples on screen is also an odd choice and one that is not necessarily needed. There is a loss of interaction between the audience and the couples. The in-person actors are much more personal, and the chemistry they have with each other is therefore better connected to the audience.
The last couple has the best chemistry. These two discuss how they met after she chased him when he did not properly park his vehicle. This story is very unique, and the humour is a bit different from the others. The two actors work beautifully together to play off one another.
Runs until 14 February 2026
