VALENTINE'S DAY
Lion and Unicorn Theatre

WITH a name like Valentine’s Day’, one might expect a play about love and romance in a beautiful setting. Quite the opposite is true of actor Andy McQuade’s first foray into directing.
The short play, one of 11 going to the Edinburgh Fringe with McQuade’s Act Provocateur International, resident company of the Lion and Unicorn, focuses around the figure of Valentine Day, a Welsh Catholic London Underground worker who talks to his teddy bear and has very little luck with the opposite sex.
The closest he gets to losing his virginity is an encounter with ‘Sticky Vicky’ in a nightclub which ends in disaster when impotence cripples his chances of success.
In a bid to change his miserable fate, the ever-romantic and somewhat delusional Valentine sends a cheque in the post to a company that promises him a beautiful, faithful and obedient Russian girl who will love him forever for only £199 plus VAT.
Valentine clings to this dream, while erecting a shrine to his dream girl in his living room, worshipping her photo and imagining their future together.
McQuade’s work is hilariously funny and entertaining with Corin Rhys Jones making a fabulous job of the geeky yet likable Valentine. At less than an hour long, the light-hearted play is bite-sized theatre that will go down perfectly with a pint from the pub downstairs.
McQuade’s directorial debut comes highly recommended.

020 7485 9897
Until July 27