We live in a world where we obtain everything instantly, we are glued to our phones and expect everything at an instance.
Even when it comes to love there apps out there like Tinder and Grinder, where by people can swipe left or right in a chance that they might find their true love. Nothing says romantic now like a heart shaped emoji does it?
Well that’s where Reform Theatre proved us wrong.
In association with Harrogate Theatre and Middlesbrough Theatre, Hopeless Romantics told a story about how a hopeless friendship can blossom into something more romantic.
Poor Alan ( Kivan Dene) has spent most of his love life believing that finding love should be like a rom com, it should be more traditional more face to face rather than over a screen. And to be honest he hasn’t had much luck, in fact he is still single.
His sisters can’t stop rubbing the fact that he still does not have a girlfriend in. So when his family invite him to a dinner, he asks work experience girl Zoe (Hannah Douglas) to be his girlfriend for the night. Sounds like a solid idea, right? Well turns out Zoe carries more than a purse and some high heel shoes and it does not go according to plan.
Perhaps similar to a soap drama in that the story line is slowly but surly progressing and the dialogue is fast paced, though we the story is obviously wrapped up at the end of the performance- there is something episodic about Hopeless Romantics. As each scene there is something new happening that we know affects the outcome of the pairs predicament.
Written by Nick Lane, Hopeless Romantics is a rom com in itself- commentating on the real life dramas that happen to everyday people. I appreciated how “real” it was, this show could have easily been created in abstract form. Rather instead it drew upon human emotion and showed how we in the 21st century really feel when it comes to commitment and the meaning of a relationship.
It was defiantly a story about how those who who work for love and those who want it all now can often work together and create something special.
We thrive on updating our lives on social media and getting this sense of fulfilment and appreciation from others, that we often forget to take a step back and look at ourselves in the mirror and what we are doing in the real world.
Hopeless Romantics taught us to stop asking for appreciation from others and to start living our own lives and appreciate ourselves for who we are and not what others want us to be or how we think others should see us.
For more information about tour dates click here
Gemma's Journey 