Trying to find love in modern Britain is tricky enough for those born here, but for someone who has moved here from abroad, specifically from a non-English speaking country, this throws multiple extra layers of complication and confusion into the mix. This notion sets the scene for this one-woman play, written and performed by German artist Mai, in her exploration of UK artistic and dating culture, and how cross-cultural romantic encounters rarely play out as one would hope.
Mai herself is a fun, witty and unfiltered lady, with a welcoming charisma that immediately draws us in. The content however, though engaging in places, such as a quiz based on questions from the British citizenship test, feels like it lacks a definitive sense of direction and cohesion, ultimately feeling more like an unlinked series of musings, incorporating several items of audience participation, which were fun but felt slightly awkward at times.
We come to learn about Mai’s own experiences, developing a good rapport with the audience, confusing yet drawing empathy from all present. The overall message and perspective explored just about makes itself clear, it was just a shame the individual items couldn’t provide one with any sense of harmony or clarity to help us on the journey. This show has the potential to be a wonderfully engaging and funny piece of spoken word, it just suffers too greatly from a sense of fragmentation.
Marriage with Benefits plays at Just the Tonic at the Caves until 25th August - for more information and tickets, you can follow the link here.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | photography by Julian Huke
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