I arrive early in order to meet my own blind date (BD) at 7.30. He’s late, so I buy a drink and discreetly admire the bartender as he hands me my wine. By the time he arrives we have about ten minutes to get to know each other.

The Blind Date Project is an ever-changing piece of improvised theatre; Anna (Natalie Medlock) waits for one of 30 possible blind dates to arrive. There is no rehearsed script and Natalie has no idea which of the 30 actors is going to arrive. Direction is live via mobile phone and, as with life, there is no way of knowing whether it’s going to ‘work’.

The meeting point is a Karaoke bar owned by the surliest woman in New Zealand (Bryony Skillington). The whole room is dressed as a (functioning) bar; this instantly sets the scene and makes it feel like we are part of the play. Sitting at round tables with people we don’t know, I’m stuck behind someone with a great big head. Although annoying, it contributes to the feeling that I’m a voyeur, peering in-between negative spaces in order to catch glimpses of Anna and the bar woman.

Anna is waiting and has also just bought her own wine. Her date (Nic Sampson) is late but he shows up with flowers and smiles, eager and nervous. Much of the way the unscripted interaction unfolds is due to Medlock’s increasingly drunk, insecure, sweet and sometimes pretentious Anna. She instigates games, touches her date constantly and uses all her female wiles, sometimes unwittingly.

It takes a while for Sampson’s ‘Hastings Boy’ to reveal the extent of his inexperience and yearning. When they finally kiss it’s such a relief: clumsy, sexy and definitely high on the chemistry scale. She blurts out a winning line for the night in reference to his red hair and kissing prowess: “Ginger kiss!” 

‘Hastings’ is constantly interrupted by phone calls from his son and Anna over reacts to the fact that he’s a father. This over-reaction suggests she’s supposed to be at the younger end of the age spectrum, as does the tinder profile discussion. When he tells her his son’s name is Caleb, she says “Oh that was my first boyfriend’s name!” This mirrors an earlier moment of my own, just before the show began. My BD told me his son’s name – and yes, it was my first boyfriend’s name. Miraculously, I didn’t blurt this out, but I really enjoy watching Anna do so.

Evidently Natalie Medlock was on Shortland Street, so ‘Hastings’ says it’s his favourite show and brings it up a lot. This is funny for everyone who watches or acts in Shortland Street, but it seems somewhat cringey to me. Still, I’m in the minority as most of the audience enjoy the in-joke.

Despite having an alcohol-fuelled attack of crazy crying lady, Anna still manages to get her man, because at the end of the day, tinder is all about getting laid.

Bojana Novakovic and Mark Winter have created the opportunity to glimpse the dating game and, in a sense, to spy on ourselves. Director Tanya Goldberg says the buzzword for this project is authenticity. I think they can also add vulnerability, spontaneity and humour to the buzz.

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Natalie Medlock presents an appealing mix of vulnerability and confidence in The Blind Date Project.  

Having decked out The Basement as a real bar with table seating, a mirror ball and a tinsel-draped karaoke stage, Silo’s end-of-year bash kick-starts the festive season with a Shortland Street star and a roster of theatrical A-listers strutting their stuff in the quintessential improv set-up of a blind date. [More]

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer