If I was to say I saw a show about numerous different realities you might think it was a sci-fi play. So maybe I should start by saying ¿Rob or Rose? is a comedy drama about two people looking for love. We meet them on a park bench as they wait for Roses’s date, who she has been dating online for 6 months but is yet to meet, to arrive. As the story runs and they end up back on the bench the story starts again. As you watch each reality play out it becomes a fixed point where what has come before is very different and you know what follows will be different.
The show is in some ways lots of different stories but there is an intelligent script that ties them together. The script is witty with some interesting takes about online dating. The dialogue moves at such a pace you need capable actors to keep it going and most difficult is playing distinctly different people with similar personalities in each scenario. The actors more than rise to these challenges and with some great direction the performances are enjoyable to watch.
Set wise, it’s a bench is a park which is all that is needed but the layout of the theatre didn’t lend itself to people being sat which impacts the sightlines for the audience. The bench needed to be elevated to ensure everyone can see.
Towards the end of the show Rob breaks character and tells us exactly what his view on the play is. It didn’t really need a final explanation and if some of that thinking had been woven into the dialogue they wouldn’t have needed to hit the audience with such a sledgehammer by saying “This is what it means”. The audience should be left to decide for themselves, so it was a slight low point in an otherwise well written play.
Personally, I disagreed with their conclusion. For each scenario, while the characters seem the same they are fundamentally different people. But that doesn’t matter, it’s not there for you to agree with, but to start a conversation. That’s what makes it intriguing and worth seeing. It will be interesting to see where this play goes as it develops.
Rating: 4 Stars