Eleanor Colville: Google Me

A packed hour about our contemporary digital lives
Eleanor Colville's character comedy promises an exploration of social media use, digital culture and her personal journey navigating the online and offline worlds of relationships. Like any tech start-up, there are some potential pitfalls. Colville's references to specific websites or social media uses are only familiar to a narrow demographic: you may also be bewildered by the mention of Club Penguin. But the biggest issue is the hardware. The show relies on visual material and, sadly, the poor projection rendered most of the text illegible, like trying to watch a Blu-ray on a Nokia 3310. This is in addition to myriad other first-night tech issues that Colville navigated admirably to keep the flow of the hour unbroken.
Colville has clearly put a lot of effort into Google Me, which features homemade projection props, musical numbers and a high concept as well as several well-defined characters. The sketches allow her to inject some commentary on contemporary gender politics, and a whimsical play on the phenomenon of ghosting into her autobiographical tale. This is a highly ambitious production, but by trying to incorporate too many elements, the quality inevitably suffers. Overall, though, Colville's show is an enjoyable digital diversion.
Just the Tonic at The Caves, until 25 Aug (not 12), 4.40pm, £6.50 (£5.50) in advance or donations at the venue.