Grindr: A Love Story?

 

Grindr: A Love Story?

Brisbane Powerhouse

October 11 & 12 2013

 

Reviewed by Guy Frawley

 

**Spoiler Alert!**

 

I’ll just go and save you the trouble of wondering, the answer to the question is no. This is a story of many things, most of it terribly entertaining, but there isn’t a love story as far as the eye can see.

 

Nath Valvo’s (almost) one man show, Grindr: A Love Story?, plays as an hour long introductory ‘how to’ course for the gay relationship app Grindr that’s spiked with anecdotes, introspection and a fair serving of addiction. Along-side what is effectively a stand-up routine Valvo has added enough flamboyant theatrics throughout, that his randomly sudden moments of honest reflection catch you unprepared.

 

To my initial glance the theatre, at full house capacity (Grindr: A Love Story? sold out before opening), was practically heaving with gay men. So it came as a surprise when Valvo commented several times on the number of women in the audience. But to paraphrase Samantha from SATC the first step on the road to fame is the gays, followed by the girls. Valvo already has a national voice with his current role as a Nova FM presenter but it’s his comedic future that I’ll be keeping my eye on.

 

His capable assistant throughout the evening, Thomas Jaspers, opens the show in drag as Rhonda Butchmore and steers her initial schtick away from the expected bitchy cattiness into the unexpectedly absurd. Plugging his iphone into the speakers he proceeded to call the Christian Lobby so that the audience, all the while giggling gaily, could leave them a message from God. Immediately after Valvo took over the stage but when we next saw Jaspers he returned to the stage to assist in a practical demonstration by designing a live Grindr profile for an unsuspecting random audience member.

 

Grindr: A Love Story? Contained a few jokes that fell flat but it was hard to remember for long as Valvo already had the audience shrieking with laughter again in seconds. He’s written a fresh show that all appeared to enjoy and if ticket sales are anything to go by he’s found a niche that’s likely to pay off.