The Future for Beginners

What if you could take out a guarantee on the future? Data cleansers Bethan and Matthew want to spend the rest of their lives together. But in order to do so, they aren’t prepared to leave anything to chance. Viewing life as determinable data, they set about meticulously planning every detail of their future, from pets to birthdays to in-laws. What could go wrong?

It’s essentially a subversion of the romcom genre, swapping serendipity for sureness. There will be no lucky encounters or chance separations in the shared life of these lovers. The problem, of course, is that they end up planning their lives rather than inhabiting them, living vicariously through their own imagined future selves.

There’s definite spark in the opening premise. The idea of imagining the contours of one’s life has a certain undeniable appeal and speaks intriguingly to a modern world in which we already tell the edited stories of our lives on social media. Liveartshow’s performance style, meanwhile, is quirkily charming, flinging in odd bursts of opera and video projection.

The show lacks the legs, however, for its hour-long running time. It’s not long before it begins to churn out tired gags and bland dialogue, while the concept wears increasingly thin. And it has to be the first time that a ukulele has intentionally—rather than inadvertently—ruined a show on the Fringe.

The problem is, careful planning doesn’t make for thrilling theatre. Take away the uncertainty, and where’s the drama?