Dante or Die’s production of I do by Daphna Attias, Terry O'Donovan and Chloe Moss. Malmaison, Reading, Sunday 10th November 2013

This show encapsulates all that is brilliant about live fringe theatre. The storyline is complete and full of drama. The characters are all fully defined despite the audience only seeing short glimpses of each character.  Even more impressive was the way in which the almost claustrophobic nature of the staging, where the audience become voyeurs, allowed an empathy for the characters to develop. The directors are right when they say this production is somewhere between a theatre play and a film. We (the audience) are allowed to witness the most intimate scenes between characters, which we can immediately empathise with, in close up like a film, but we also get to choose the camera angle.

The main storyline of this production is the last 15 minutes of preparation before a wedding in a hotel setting. The audience is split into groups and led from room to room by friendly guides. The idea is that we get to witness the preparation in each room, the bride’s, the best man’s, the mother of the bride’s etc., but each group will witness a different opening and ending scene with a different combination of scenes as the middle. To pull this off so that each group has as full an experience as possible each “scene” has to be the beginning, the middle and the end. Judging by the whispering I heard as the groups passed each other in the corridor throughout and the version I experienced, no-one was left disappointed.

What I thought was the strongest element of this show was the intricate web of plotlines, performed with real truth by the entire ensemble. There were subplots which bring laughter, others which move to tears but each and every one rung true for me. During the performance I witnessed (and you do feel like a witness rather than an audience at times) the flow of drama was flawless. This has to be down to an excellent storyline, precision scene changes and a delightful performance by the maid, our silent fellow witness to scenes and stage setter as she “rewound” us before we entered each new room.

Whether you have ever been a part of a wedding or not, you cannot help but get caught up in this wonderful drama. It will be performed again in Winchester in February and again in London in March. If you are still in doubt and wondering whether or not I recommend this show… I do, I most definitely do.