The Girlfriend Experience, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 20 September 2008

We really liked this play. It was funny and interesting.

It’s one of those verbatim theatre jobbies. Alecky Blythe went round talking to prostitutes at “the parlour” and pulled together a play about them based on their own accounts.

Intriguingly, the cast listened to recordings as they delivered their lines, to add a particular type of authenticity to the verbatim method.

It worked for us, anyhow.

Perhaps the Royal Court are starting to put up archives going back this far, but for now this one is merely a stub – click here.

OfficialLondonTheatre.co.uk has more – click here.

• Michael Billington gave it three stars in the Guardian for its rigorous truthfulness, but wanted to know more about the punters as well as the girls – click here;
• Charles Spencer found it hugely entertaining in the Telegraph – click here;
• Philip Fisher in British Theatre guide found it neither fish nor fowl – click here;
• The Standard, though, (Nicholas de Jongh?) really liked it – click here.