It seems that becoming famous now is easy, spend a few weeks in a house in Borehamwood or on an island with beautiful people and you’re an overnight success. But, is it really that easy? Losers from Tit4Twat Theatre explores the current cult of celebrity, with emphasis on what you really need to do for all that fame.
Losers is billed as an interactive gameshow, we are all handed a handset as we enter and soon find out that the gang of four have found a casting agent who will only take one of them. They are now creating their own reality TV show as a pilot, and to choose the one who will go to the casting agent. The audience get the chance to vote after each round to help select the overall winner.
This, plus instructions for the voting pads, takes quite a long time to explain. As a result, a chunk of the energy in the room has dissipated, an no amount of bright colours or countdown timers can bring it back.
There are eight rounds, and you vote more or less after every round, this element is quite fun but I found myself willing them to get on with it so I could get to the next vote. The loser of each round has to endure some kind of forfeit, which despite the long introductory explanation, is never mentioned, so we are none the wiser as to what’s happening.
Arthur, Rachel, Sophie and Tommy go through all sorts of torture, both in the rounds and the forfeits. I was actually sweating in a mixture of fear and cringing at some of the things they were doing. Yes, it’s funny to watch someone eat cat food, but should they be doing that and should we really be laughing?! There are elements which are extremely good, the honesty round (where they are very honest) particularly so. Other elements really do make you squirm.
Losers does a great job of highlighting all the ridiculous things people will put themselves through for their five minutes of fame, and the voting pads give it a nice bit of quirkiness. But, it needs some work to maintain and build up the energy in the room so that audiences feel less guilty for laughing at such mean games.
