Why
Around the time I started writing this play, online dating was just beginning to take off and there was a lot of marketing and discussion around the notion that people were happier and healthier in relationships than they were single. There were also a number of new pieces of legislation coming out in Europe that gave couples and families major tax breaks (above the breaks that most straight couples already get in countries around the world) for simply being in a relationship and/or raising children. There was something creepy to me at the time about this confluence of pressure, and the fact that governments seemed to be getting involved in the match-making.
What
Characters: 1 woman, 1 man
Running Time: 60 minutes
Summary: Two individuals, faced with an extreme set of circumstances, make very different choices about their lives. A man and a woman are given the task of interviewing each other for a familiar purpose. The play quickly opens up into a study of two characters struggling to make individual choices in a world that demands that everyone should follow the same set of rules.
When & Where
Availability: Available for performance.
Production History:
• Produced by actio/reactio theatre company at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, directed by Sarah Norman, The Pleasance JackDome, August 2006
Press for The Interview
“Cleverly constructed and exceedingly well performed, this smashing little play by Alexis Clements teases out a near-future world where everything is controlled by an unseen, all-beneficent company… The balance of power shifts and moves subtly between the two under Sarah Norman’s precise and perceptive direction.”
—Thom Dibdin, The Stage
(read the full review online here or view a PDF here)
“Skilfully executed, with humour and self-depreciation…finely played by Katharine Peachey and Tom Foster.”
-Ed Witcomb, SkinnyFEST
“Oh, this show is so Fringe. Two people, a man and a woman (called Man and Woman) in a white space. An interview is happening but who is interviewing whom? And what sort of a Kafkaesque world is this?…Sarah Norman’s tight direction kept it lively and…the performances make it worth an hour of anyone’s time.”
—Victor Hallett, OnStageScotland.com
