REVIEW: Banging Denmark by Van Badham at Finborough Theatre 16 April – 11 May 2024

‘a cast of five equally clever characters, with dialogue that zings and bites’ ★★★★

Banging Denmark calls itself a rom-com in quotation marks. While it has all the self-awareness and sarcasm that implies, it also has the essential sweetness and feel-good vibe.

The premise: Pick-up artist Jake (Tom Kay) desperately wants to go out with Anne (Maja Simonsen), the icily mysterious librarian. The problem: Anne is Danish, and Denmark, famously, is the most gender-equal place on earth. His usual sexist shtick won’t work. So, he turns for coaching to Ishtar (Rebecca Blackstone), a feminist PhD candidate. She’s bunkered herself in her office ever since a critical comment she left on a pick-up podcast got her sued to oblivion and buried under an avalanche of online trolling. Jake offers her 50,000 pounds if she can convince Anne to go on just one date. The catch: Jake is the podcast host who sued her, and Ishtar has no idea.

In grand rom-com tradition, can we guess what happens next? Well yes and no. Playwright Van Badham leans into the genre’s beats while also delighting in undermining them whenever possible. She’s wisely created a cast of five equally clever characters, with dialogue that zings and bites. Tom Kay’s Jake and Rebecca Blackstone’s Ishtar get the lion’s share of furious/ hormone-fuelled banter, but Maja Simonsen’s deadpan Scandinavian, Jodie Tyack’s quirky-butwise best friend and James Jip’s good-hearted suitor all hold their own. Jip and Tyack both pull off particularly effective scenes that mix up the gender-based battle lines, each of them pushing back against the allegiance their fellow man or woman demands of them.

The one catch of tackling subjects as gnarly as rape threats, incels, negging, red pilling and co. in a comedy is that you’ll probably find yourself sanding off the edges: Van Badham is careful to never let her characters cross any truly unforgiveable line. When Jake explains how to get a woman into bed by cutting down her self worth and tricking her into physical contact, he also stresses that he never, actually, violates consent. And his seduction routine is played out for laughs by both a man and a woman, further softening any sting. Ishtar’s online harassment seems based on Anita Sarkeesian, targeted in the infamous Gamergate for her criticism of sexist video-game portrayals. But what, exactly, did Ishtar’s comment accuse Jake of doing? And was she wrong or right? Banging Denmark remains vague on this point, which slightly undercuts the story arc of mutual understanding and forgiveness.

Director Sally Woodcock has gotten the most out of her actors and production team alike. Katy Mo and Leah Kelly’s set design makes clever use of space, slotting a naturalistic office, two different flats, a library and more onto the Finborough’s tiny stage. Edward Lewis’s sound design conjures up the pick-up podcast’s callers with flair, and Van Badham’s more stylistic touches are translated with ease.

If you’re looking for a social-issues-based night out that’ll leave you laughing rather than depressed, Banging Denmark is for you.

Images: Ali Wright

Box Office https://finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/banging-denmark/

Production Team

Playwright: Van Badham

Director: Sally Woodcock

Set Designers: Katy Mo and Leah Kelly

Lighting Designer: Richard Williamson

Sound Design and Composition: Edward Lewis

Costume Design: Leah Kelly

Producer: presented by MESH Theatre Co Limited in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Cast

Ishtar Madigan: Rebecca Blackstone

Toby Bello: James Jip

Jake Newhouse: Tom Kay

Anne Toft: Maja Simonsen

Dr. Denyse Kim: Jodie Tyack

Reviewed by Anna Clart