clickbait

A cautionary tale for the age of Buzzfeed, The Red Chair Players’ Clickbait attempts to “explore the subtle ways a person can be manipulated without knowing it”. When a peer needs to raise $50,000 to treat a debilitating medical condition, likeable high-school-students-cum-marketing-gurus Lauren and Valerie step in with their formula for viral content that cannot fail.

Clickbait begins with an enthusiastic and engaging presentation from Lauren and Valerie, who talk us through the psychology of viral content. This initial scene sets a high standard for the rest of the piece, which jars against it with a low energy, plot-based format. Whilst the scenes are well constructed, some changes are clunky and drain the vitality from the play with unnecessary prop movement.

Clickbait’s structure is like clickbait itself. The play interweaves a series of short, at first seemingly unconnected, scenes which each end on a cliff hanger to form a slick and enticing narrative. Peppered with facts about viral marketing and current affairs, which stand out as preaching rather than neatly fitting into the dialogue, Clickbait could easily be an article entitled “This girl went viral. What happened next is shocking!”

For the most part, Clickbait fails to explore or even contextualise its characters. It isn’t clear why protagonists/narrators Lauren and Valerie are trying to create viral content, or who they are in relation to the other characters. Are they curiously experimenting with a form they already appear to be experts in and, if so, why should they be surprised when the project starts to destabilise? There is an attempt at character development towards the close of the play, in the form of an emotional outburst between sisters Kylie and Sophie, but this feels forced. With this all-female cast given characters that function purely as vessels for information, there isn’t a lot for them to work with. Some actors appear disengaged with the play, with a noticeable disparity between their enthusiasm and the others’.

Clickbait is a promising play; Brian Borowka’s script is entertaining and there are some gems – the actresses playing Valerie and Kylie give charismatic performances, and the split screen staging is effective. Ultimately though, Clickbait lacks drive and, much like a clickbait article, doesn’t contain as much content as it advertises.

Clickbait is playing at C (Venue 34) from 8-15 August 2015 as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For more information visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.

A cast list was not available at the time of writing.