Writer: Jamie Christian
Director: Andy McLeod
Forceful and darkly comedic, this intense, hour-long drama explores perspectives around reality TV through a series of interlinked monologues. These are delivered by a tangentially related quartet: Bystander, Employer, Contestant and Lover, characters drawn from across society to demonstrate the reality genre’s wide-rippling effects.
It’s set in the shattering months before, during and after a controversial episode of extreme dating show Reality Bites, based on Naked Attraction (where contestants hoping for a date are chosen or discarded on the basis of their nude appearance), airs as a Christmas Day special. The casting is exemplary: the players, all affected by the Christmas episode in different ways, inhabit their characters to the full, and all their voices ring true.
Luis Donegan-Brown speaks first, bringing anxious, ascetic loquacity to his portrayal of Chris the Bystander, an opera-loving, academic civil servant with an immaculate suit and wave in his hair. He talks fast but coherently, as if discharging emotion, expressing righteous disgust at his younger ex-boyfriend’s slapdash housekeeping, cooking and attire. Hard done by (he’s gone through the worst kinds of bygone homophobic spite) and heartless in turn, he represents mid-life daters alarmed at the onset of decline in their allure.
Simeon Willis is brilliantly cynical and scheming as amoral geezer Employer Max, an ex-Tesco cashier made good over many decades. Rueing his advancing years, he jealously scorns his millennial workers, manipulating them to his own ends while shamelessly leching and conniving to commit workplace indecency.
Patti, the proudly religious American Contestant, is played by Laura Shipler Chico with all the manic, perky optimism of a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon: “God is my cheerleader!” Whatever Patti does is the will of the Lord and deserves a positive, Panglossian spin, even as she moves from her stable 30-year Stateside marriage-with-kids to singledom in the depths of Peckham. There’s an engaging, simplistic innocence to her, but also a terrifying relentlessness. She cheerily describes the workings of Reality Bites – the forensic assessment of nakedness, the eliminations, without stopping to contemplate any negative impacts.
Finally, Robert Eades as the Lover – asinine jock Joshua, rapidly sparring as if in a boxing ring – moves steadily and convincingly from forward-thinking optimism to harsh realisation via laddish incomprehension. He’s let down, however, by what seems like a shorter spell onstage than his co-players. The speed of his journey is just a little too rapid, deserving more explanation around his changing rationales and states of mind.
There’s a clever narrative thread woven through the musings of the four players that spirals rapidly to a confronting conclusion. The connections between the characters subtly and satisfyingly build as the play progresses; creeping dismay turns to horror as the direction of travel becomes apparent.
En route, the four sets of stories allow the audience to dwell on various issues, including the façades and alter egos people construct for themselves, the all-consuming eagerness for social media likes and fame, show hopefuls’ willingness to put themselves up for consumption, and the manipulation, selective editing and pigeonholing of contestants.
Gooper Dust Productions’ stated aim, voiced by founder Laura Shipler Chico, is to create shows that make you think without telling you what to think, and Reality Bites very much succeeds at that. The clever details of the intensifying plot strike home and linger in the mind.
The drawbacks to the production are few.
Firstly, the positive aspects of Naked Attraction, basis for Reality Bites, are skipped over: the liberating, possibly confidence-boosting depiction of bodies in all their glorious imperfection, and the inclusion of contestants of every inclination, helping to normalise their presence in society. It may not be the optimal target; perhaps Reality Bites could have taken a shot at a more exploitative format.
On the PR front, Reality Bites’ flyer, featuring four characters silhouetted against neon-bright colours and a Rocky Horror-style bitten lip, doesn’t do this nuanced, thoughtful production justice, implying that it’s a lurid reality show itself.
And there’s a problem with the bright, high beam-style headlights aimed squarely into the audience at the start of the show: the retinal burnout might leave afterimages long into the first act.
These are small dents in this high-quality, thought-provoking show. The performances, action, script and humorous content are exceptional, yielding empathy, genuine consternation, frequent laughs and understanding.
Writer Jamie Christian hopes that this incisive piece builds on the success of its direct forerunner, Museum Pieces, a winner at the OFFIEs (Off West End Theatre Awards) in the short run category, and is rewarded with a longer stint and greater airing. On the basis of this viewing, Reality Bites fully deserves it, and the show’s partnership with UCAN (the Unscripted Cast Advocacy Network), which is helping to improve working conditions and mental health provision for reality show participants, is to be applauded.
Runs until 20 July 2025
