REVIEW | Roast Me, Union Theatre

★★★★

Reviewer - BECKY

*Disclaimer: AD | Gifted Tickets

A black mirror-esque production exploring a dystopian society where we see the potential dangers of the power of social media and the hold it has on us as a generation.

Roast Me, written by Tom Holt, follows the story of 4 friends who decide to begin the “Roast Me” trend on a Reddit page after one of the leads played by Conor Joseph loses a game of FIFA. The trend focuses on a singular person holding up a plaque and then proceeds to allow social media to troll them on their looks, no matter how harsh. This trend, of course, goes viral, as do many trends in today's society and gets completely out of hand. We follow the rise of some and fall of others whilst debating on whether this story could become today’s world's reality.

The story is laid out through a series of flashbacks between the present day and 3 years ago, when the trend started. As we watch the impact Roast Me has on the characters, we see emotions unfold, relationship bonds to begin to form and society beginning to break around them. The flashbacks were mostly easy to follow as cut scenes were made quite clear by either the lighting or sound design. However, there was the occasional moment where the past and present would somewhat blend into one and would become a little confusing.

Lucy Doyle gave a standout performance as Charlie, a girl severely affected by the viral trend almost to the brink of the unthinkable. She displayed a powerful execution in showing her feelings through expression as well as dialogue. Her character was extremely natural to emphasise with. The show also features more amazing,young and upcoming actors, including Joe Wiltshire, AJ Greaves, Ayesha Sharma and Stephanie Swan, who all gave outstanding performances throughout.

I found myself enjoying the scenes leading up to the catastrophe of Roast Me as opposed to the present day scenes. The build up of what was to come had much more of a relatable sense around it to things that even I have experienced to this day and I think a lot of people could relate to also.

The premise of the show was great, the end result however did fall a little flat. A few jokes were repeated throughout that began to become slightly less funny each time they were told. Additionally, the ending came very abruptly. I found myself taken a little aback by the fact that it had finished in such a way, although I am sure this was used for effect.

With that being said, it’s such a relevant topic in today's age and it was brilliant to see something fresh in the very competitive London theatre scene. There were huge discussions happening after the show about what would happen if this were real and what would you do if you were in that position?

Roast Me was an interesting delve into the consequences of the internet and the grasp it has on billions of us today and really makes you think twice about what we really should be doing with our time.

Roast Me is Playing at The Union Theatre until 22nd of January. Book your tickets now.