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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Henry Hitchings's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Joe Hill-Gibbins.
Cast: Lu Corfield
Description: Joe Hill-Gibbins directs Alecky Blythe's comedy-drama, inspired by edited conversations recorded inside a brothel.
Trains: Tube/BR: Waterloo 
Phone: 0207922 2922
Website: www.youngvic.org
Verbatim theatre tends to be political but Alecky Blythe’s The Girlfriend Experience, set in a Bournemouth brothel, is deliberately parochial.
Based on more than 100 of hours of material recorded in a prostitutes’ parlour, it looks at the lives of four women who are neither exploited nor drug-addled but intent on earning a snug little living.
At £60 for “a bit of everything”, these are hardly adventuresses to rival Belle de Jour: when all are busy, for instance, a gnome is parked outside the front door.
Their existence is student-squalid, and they gobble sweets and sandwiches while waiting for clients — an unappealing bunch of men defined by their hubris or their off-piste requirements.
The title makes it clear that these ladies of pleasure aim for the “caring, sharing” approach.
They are selling not just sex but their personalities — which are affectionately conveyed.
As the matriarchal Tessa, Debbie Chazen is the piece’s loquacious star but Lu Corfield is also very good as laconic Poppy, while Beatie Edney’s Suzie seems intriguingly sad, and Alex Lowe shows versatility in playing all of the disparate punters.
The play has rich authenticity, plenty of laughs and one really disquieting moment. Yet it lacks shape.
Blythe’s signature insistence on “recorded delivery” (the whole cast wears headphones) feels clunky, and occasionally the dialogue pitches towards banality.
Still, The Girlfriend Experience reveals a side of prostitution with which most theatergoers will be unfamiliar, and, though inconclusive as a documentary, it certainly provides buxom entertainment.
Until 15 August. Information: 020 7922 2922.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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