White Bear Theatre, London

Whether you are more M&S or like this lowly writer you wander the aisle of dreams at Lidl, everyone loves a bargain. Generation Games, the new double bill of one-act comedy dramas at the White Bear, is the best two-for-one we have spotted this year. Not counting the Shoneye twins.

Grouped loosely on the theme that it can be our differences that attract and bond us, in this case, the difference being age, the two shows stand well on their own but together make a delightful dance. 

A Certain Term, written by Michael McManus, suggests that it is a first date. MIddle-aged Graham (Luke McGibney) is preparing a party for his friends. He is thrown off balance when the younger Joe (Simon Stallard) turns up early. He had met Joe while drunk and forgotten he had invited him. While Graham is working himself into a tizzy over the wine and cheese selection it’s obvious that Joe is hoping to turn a forgotten invite into something more memorable, he is ready with the banter. There is an air of possibility. Until, when Graham dashes out for some wine, Robert (Joe Ashman) appears. Robert is Graham’s former lover. 

The casting works well. McBride shows Graham as being clever but still unable to get out of his own way. Stallard has Joe as being precociously smart but not annoyingly so. Ashman makes Robert suitably out of place in his own home. When the twist comes and the genre flips from rom-com to something else they nicely bounce the play to a higher level of impact.

I F___n’ Love You, by Charlie Ross Mackenzie, has an established couple camping out on the sofa bed of an airbnb. Simon (also Joe Ashman) is enduring the nightly ritual of his tiny bladdered partner Adrian (Charlie Ross Mackenzie) nipping in and out of the toilet before bed. They are both at different stages of their show business careers. Adrian is wondering what is left for him while the younger Simon is wondering what is to come. Their dynamic is as comfortable as slippers yet it seems they still hold back some of their vulnerabilities. Can Adrian quite believe that the beautiful Simon is in love with him? And is he ready to say back to Simon what he wants to hear? The exploration of where they are at and where they are going peels like an onion, and amidst the warm laughs from their human frailties the inevitable teardrops.

It’s another set of great performances. Mackenzie and Ashman make it clear why Adrian and Simon are who they are. The self-doubts and the second-guessing that sit constantly alongside their successes. It’s evident why they like each other. Whether it is true love is to be revealed. 

Generation Games is a well-written night of laughs, appealing characterization, and high notes of complex emotions. For two short plays they both manage to deliver lengthy dramatic journeys. It’s fun but also fulfilling.