Edinburgh Fringe: Tagged – C eca

Writer: Craig Macdonald

Director: Amy Gilmartin

Reviewer: Deborah Klayman

The Public Reviews Rating:

Fresh new Scottish writing, Tagged is a cautionary tale about the obsession with social media. Cleverly utilising projections and with strong performances from the young cast, it is an engaging and thought-provoking new work by Craig Macdonald.

The three characters, with their lives linked by Facebook, have various online interactions which we witness through the prologue, chock-full of snappy dialogue and with each actor showing terrific timing. Through their online antics we can gage that Kimberley Joyce’s character is a recluse, Kizzy Lindsay enjoys smutty exchanges, and Craig Macdonald is lovesick. When Macdonald’s relationship ends, devastating him, the ‘friends’ finally meet in person and go on a night out that ultimately changes all their lives.

Macdonald has encapsulated the obsession with putting everything out into the social media universe, and the drawbacks of having a tool that allows you to feel connected to others but actually allows you to have fewer and fewer meaningful interactions. Macdonald and Joyce give touching performances in their roles, and Kizzy Lindsay’s final monologue was both well-written and superbly performed, showcasing the young actress’ clear talent. That said, it would have made more sense – given the title and seeming intention of the play – for her fate to have been linked to or caused by Facebook. Instead, she has a terrible experience and her new friends are affected by it, but fundamentally it is not the fault of social media, and had it been the comment the play is making might be more incisive. Regardless, asking interesting questions about the way we present ourselves online and the true meaning of friendship, Tagged is a play well worth seeing.

Until 27^th August (odd days only)

Edinburgh Fringe: Tagged – C eca, 4.3 out of 5 based on 10 ratings