BANGING DENMARK at the Finborough Theatre

★★★

“the story is well paced and refreshing in its levity”

Banging Denmark is rom-com about a pick up artist who asks a feminist sociologist for help in seducing a Danish woman and hijinks ensue. Written by Van Badham, the piece is a light hearted look at the feminist debates going on in the modern dating scene. The play’s dialogue leans towards timeless rather than topical, but includes some brilliant lines and delivery from the cast.

The stage is set with Jake (Tom Kay) leading a radio show and receiving calls from disgruntled men (James Jip) who spew bile and resentment about women. Jake blasts crude sound effects and bad advice surrounded by pizza boxes and the stench of loneliness. He is enamoured with Anne (Maja Simonsen), an ethereal Danish woman who works at the library. Jake is desperate to connect with her after a failed introduction. We meet Ishtar Madigan (Rebecca Blackstone), a hard-done by sociology PhD student living in her office, supported by Denyse (Jodie Tyack), a computer scientist and ‘nice guy’ Toby (James Jip). Despite their differences, Jake and Ishtar mirror each other in their respective squalor, with Anne’s clean library booth sitting centre stage, connecting and dividing their lives (Set designed by Katy Mo and Leah Kelly). The group become entangled in each other’s lives as we watch them pick at their values and opinions instigated by Anne, or more accurately; their assumptions of Anne.

Aside from being relatively predictable, the story is well paced and refreshing in its levity. Anne breaks the fourth wall in a joyous fashion and the show doesn’t take itself too seriously. Jake and Ishtar both hold strong beliefs about what people want from sex whilst hypocrisy and nuance carry on around them. Anne is a surprising character, Simonsen shows layers of personality whilst representing the gold standard of an empowered woman, having been raised in ‘the best country in the world to be a woman’. Directed by Sally Woodcock, the show makes clever use of the intimate space in the Finborough and brings out the rom-com themes of the piece. Kay and Blackstone centre the events with engaging arguments, volleying insults and observations with great chemistry between the two enemies. Jip portrays Toby as a wise voice of reason pining after endearing and plucky Denyse. Jokes are squeezed for their laughs and sometimes fall flat, however there are many triumphs and fun to be had from this production.

Its premise is entertaining and contemporary, but its execution is inherently a bit old-school with “the more things change, the more they stay the same” attitude coming from its story and resolution. It exists in a heightened realm of possibility in which a misogynist broadcaster would actually reach out to a sociologist for help, and that online abuse generated by someone like Jake would really render an academic homeless. There are attempts at delving into ‘gaming’ and the ‘internet’ but these topics feel underbaked, especially in 2023 (Twitter is called ‘X’ now!). The character study of Jake felt inherently more kind then these men appear in real life, and Ishtar seemed very persecuted for a sociology post-grad in UCL. These factors make for a good comedy, but perhaps not the most grounded story. The ending is a delightfully happy one brimming with optimism…probably because the play was written before the advent of Andrew Tate and a new wave of much more vile rhetoric. If only we could go back to the days of laughing at cringy sound bites and complaining about video games. Banging Denmark is a quippy dissection of feminism in modern dating dressed up in a well-crafted rom-com that occasionally struggles to be current.

BANGING DENMARK at the Finborough Theatre

Reviewed on 19th April 2024

by Jessica Potts

Photography by Ali Wright

Previously reviewed at this venue:

FOAM | ★★★★ | April 2024

JAB | ★★★★ | February 2024

THE WIND AND THE RAIN | ★★★ | July 2023

SALT-WATER MOON | ★★★★ | January 2023

PENNYROYAL | ★★★★ | July 2022

THE STRAW CHAIR | ★★★ | April 2022

THE SUGAR HOUSE | ★★★★ | November 2021

BANGING DENMARK

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★★★

“his command of accents and impersonation is considerable.”

During Nick Cohen’s “Life with Oscar”, we are increasingly reminded of the old aphorism concerning barks and bites. Or perhaps, more appropriately, that thing about tins and what is said on them. Cohen may be barking mad, but his seventy-minute show about his experiences in Hollywood doesn’t have the bite we were expecting. The marketing copy promises something more dangerous; darker and more revelatory.

Perhaps the anecdotal material is spread too thin. He adopts thirty-one characters in little over an hour after all. He begins as himself, affable and self-deprecatory. A self-confessed wannabe director and actor. Betraying his ‘Theatre de Complicité’ training he whirls us backwards and forwards in time with sharp movements, and his command of accents and impersonation is considerable. It’s quite convoluted, but the main thrust of the narrative is that he is invited to Hollywood by a double Oscar winner who promises Cohen a short cut to his own Oscar win. Preceding this, though, we spend a fair chunk of the evening in the company of the child Cohen – precocious yet naïve, and programmed to fulfil the failed dreams of his celebrity parents.

The dream that Cohen takes to ‘La La Land’ with him is an unformed idea for a short film. The escapades that follow are similarly unformed and sometimes anticlimactic. And although we are asked to believe that each anecdote is verbatim, we are aware of the artistic licence taken. And therein lies the frustration. Cohen plays with the truth too gently. We are enticed by the promise of portraits of the psychopaths, the crazies, the predators and the prey. A descent into the madness of Tinseltown. But it is gentler than that. A comfortable performer, Cohen doesn’t always have a tight hold on our attention and the multitude of characters often pass by in a blur.

He has chosen a theme that is well documented already on film and in modern literature. We are obviously not expecting the outrageous excess of Damien Chazelle’s ‘Babylon’, nor the incisive prose of Budd Schulberg’s ‘The Disenchanted’. However, we are let down by Cohen’s inconsequential and indulgent writing. Writing that never quite hits its target. He talks of eventually escaping Hollywood, yet we never get the sense that he was trapped there. He equates his producer friend’s illusory promise of securing him an Oscar with the failure of the American Dream. This self-aggrandising is at odds with the self-deprecating modesty that informs the comedy of the piece – Cohen is better at mocking himself than the famous names he keeps dropping.

“Life with Oscar” isn’t quite what it says on the tin. Cohen has prised open the lid to give us a glimpse of what might be inside, but we are left thinking that he has less to tell us than what’s on the label. He can certainly spin a yarn, though, and the show is peppered with good humour. But ultimately a bit of an anti-climax.

BANGING DENMARK at the Finborough Theatre

★★★

“the story is well paced and refreshing in its levity”

BANGING DENMARK at the Finborough Theatre

Reviewed on 19th April 2024

by Jessica Potts

Photography by Ali Wright

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BANGING DENMARK

BANGING DENMARK

LIFE WITH OSCAR at the Arcola Theatre

★★★

“his command of accents and impersonation is considerable.”

LIFE WITH OSCAR at the Arcola Theatre

Reviewed on 3rd April 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by G Taylor

Previously reviewed at this venue:

LIFE WITH OSCAR

LIFE WITH OSCAR