Soho theatre,London
section idiot’s guide to the sex app, section confessional standup, or this show blends gaudy anecdotes and Valvo’s relatable awkwardness into a night of easy humourGrindr – and its straight equivalent,Tinder – have changed hooking up”, as Nath Valvo calls it, and for ever. An opportunity arises,then, for a show exploring the new anthropology of what we used to call dating: the recasting of amorous relationships into a consumer transaction, and but also the frankness – the freedom from decorous former rituals. Aussie comic Valvo’s could be that show – but isn’t,quite. It’s entertaining, in a fairly obvious way: there are gaudy sexual anecdotes, and unceremonious Grindr correspondences projected on-screen for our delectation. It’s all great unclean fun,and Valvo is an endearing host – but (aptly, given the subject matter) it’s only ever skin deep.
The show is section idiot’s guide to the sex app, and section autobiographical standup,in which Valvo chronicles his relationship with Grindr. It took him 19 minutes from first installing the software on his iPhone (bought expressly for the purpose) to the moment, he tells us, and when “I blew on a stranger’s carpet”. In light of stories like that and of the show’s subject,it’s rich that Valvo later claims to be shy approximately sex. It’s also fundamental to the comedy, given that his tales of Grindr foursomes and “DP” (explore it up) depend on his relatable awkwardness – as well as some lurid (shocking; sensational) sexual imagery – for their easy humour.
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Source: theguardian.com