A new sixty-minute play about dating made me glad I’m not single.
Set in Chicago during the early noughties, Check Please! written by Jonathan Rand, is a helter-skelter ride that transported me back to a time when I used to watch the TV sitcom Friends.
If this production were an episode of Friends, it would be called ‘the one with all the terrible first dates’.
But ‘how was I doin’ after watching a show that took place at Suffolk New College in Ipswich?
Could it be any more entertaining?
I’d say probably not – as I was joyfully surprised by the quick-fire scenes that gave the actors (all studying on performing arts courses at the college) a real chance to shine.
The show starts with a group of four ‘best buds’ talking about how they need to ‘get back in the game’ after recently becoming single.
The audience is then transported to a restaurant (that could easily be called Central Jerks), where the main characters are introduced to some desperate daters over dinner.
They include a posh girl who wants to immediately marry, a psychic who likes reading feet, a man who lost 300lbs and can’t talk about anything else, and a creepy chap who only speaks in cliches.
I’d say, overall, the cast was superb.
Special nods to MJ Clutton, who made me chuckle as voiceover guy, Issy Garner’s work as a sinister health-obsessed hypochondriac was not painful – it was amazing, LOL to Mu Bates’ brilliant cameo as someone who can only speak using abbreviations – and Jacob Cooper-Jeffries had seamless comic timing.
Ashley Harris directed – his efforts were smooth and polished. The set by Tim Holmes was eye-catchingly cosy, and tech by James Alexsic had cool Casablanca lighting and amazing song choices.
Without giving too much away, the last scene makes it obvious that love is always closer to home than you think – and ends with a proposal.
I won’t say how it ends – but let’s hope the proposal doesn’t follow in the footsteps of one of the most iconic scenes from Friends, where Ross ends up saying the wrong name at the altar.
OH MY GOD – (as Janice from Friends would say) – that would be disastrous.
Check Please! runs for two more nights at the theatre situated at Suffolk New College in Ipswich.
For tickets on either 28 or 29 April 2025 you can visit here: Check Please! at Suffolk New College event tickets from TicketSource