A play with interactive components at all times has potential however Counter doesn’t fairly ship
“What are you trying to say?”
As a girl arrives half-hour late for a date with their companion of 10 years, we quickly uncover that issues should not going tremendous nice. It’s been three weeks since they final communicated, ‘Her’ having fled to her sister’s place after ‘Him’ made a grand public gesture and quite than only a drink in a loud pub, these are literally full-on disaster talks concerning the state of their relationship.
This we clock from the dialogue in Counter, but additionally from the moments once they every break the fourth wall to pour out their true emotions to the viewers, relaying to us what they need to be saying to one another. These sections ultimately evolve into direct viewers participation, the characters asking questions on what they need to do or what they need to have executed, begging recommendations about what might make issues higher.
Without giving an excessive amount of away, author/director Maggie N Razavi ideas the scales a bit too closely a technique, as evidenced by about 95% of tonight’s viewers agreeing on whether or not Her ought to keep or go. So while it’s enjoyable to interact frivolously with the decision-making course of, there’s too little at play right here nor are the blandly middle-class characters sufficiently participating for us to essentially really feel plugged in.
They might have been collectively for a decade however their various and shared privilege retains us at arms size, one thing exacerbated by the resolute unsuitedness we’re offered with. That’s to not say that Rikvah Bunker and Max Norman don’t supply up sturdy performances, bouncing nicely off the viewers participation, it’s the (non-)dramatic journey Counter takes them on which seems like the difficulty.