Writer: Lily Guy-Vogel
Director: Rosie Barwick
Thisakya Dias Is excellent as the lead in this slick, quick examination of a young woman and her self-esteem mired in a routine of hard drinking and casual hook-ups. Elle is heading towards self-destruction. Can she break the vicious circle of tequila and sex in time?
Aptly, Swipe begins with a hangover: Elle’s hangover. Behind her, lurks her self-esteem gleefully and charmingly embodied by Helen Wieland. They regret the night before when Elle made out with a man who she didn’t particularly like. After a few drinks and no better option on the horizon, she thought she had no choice but to kiss him. Her dates appear to follow the same script.
When she turns to the dating apps, swiping through men, she’s terrible at small talk. For every dick pic she receives, she sends over a tits photo. She rarely meets the guys she talks to. And when she does go on dates, her self-esteem waves a bridal veil in front of her, a taunt as much as a hope that this man may be the one.
Her best friend, on the other hand, is settled and sorted. Sarah (Ciara Gaughen) is about to move in with her boyfriend, but her excitement is disingenuous and she’s obviously dreading the idea of co-habiting. She’s somewhat envious of Elle’s freedom.
While Swipe is a comedy – sometimes a very broad comedy when the three male actors come on to stage to narrate men’s Tinder chat-up lines and emojis – Lily Guy-Vogel’s play is also concerned with the challenges of modern life where sex and love are easily confused. At one point, Elle decides that it’s not love she’s after, but sex, so signs up to instant hook-up apps.
Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with women wanting sex without strings, but the moral of the play seems to suggest that there is. However, it’s not the desire for sex that puts Elle in dangerous situations and in jeopardy of losing her job as a freelance writer, but rather that the decisions she makes are blurred by the amount of alcohol she consumes. And yet the play skirts around her drinking problem when perhaps it should be the focus.
Most of the action takes place on a bed, looking enormous on the Hen & Chicken stage and when Elle meets her dates in the local pub, the bed lies between them, truly the elephant in the room. Around the bed are clothes and bottles, easily conjuring up Tracey Emin’s My Bed, a piece created by the artist after she had spent several days in bed drinking nothing but alcohol. My Bed is a representation of female depression and sexuality and offers little comfort to the viewer. In comparison, Elle’s escape seems a little too bright.
But unlike many of the shows playing at the Camden Fringe, Swipe is ready to go onto bigger stages. Funny and important, Swipe is a play for today.
Runs until 25 August 2024
Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2024
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