Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Classics of the future

Plus: a wonderful helping of midsummer comedy at The Vaults, Waterloo

issue 03 August 2019

Games for Lovers feels like a smart, sexy TV comedy. Martha is still in love with her old flame Logan whose new girlfriend has a huge libido which he can’t hope to satisfy. When Martha starts flat-hunting she answers an advert coincidentally posted by Logan’s best friend, Darren. Thus, perhaps too neatly, the two warring couples are set up for a massive falling out.

Darren (played brilliantly by Billy Postlethwaite, with shades of Kevin Kline) is the beating heart of this story. He’s a former nerd who works as a City analyst and uses tricks learned from the internet to bed women. But all his techniques backfire and he becomes the victim of his botched seductions. Behind the cocky exterior, he’s just a sweet, shy, lonely youngster trying to keep his spirits afloat while he looks for the girl of his dreams.

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