These days, it seems like everyone is very online. Widespread social media use means that no-one is safe – apparently, not even if you’re meeting under Chatham House Rules (that is to say, where it’s agreed an interviewee will not be identified). As performer Louis Rembges explores in his surreal, compelling hour, it can be very hard to ignore the urge of turning every waking moment of our lives into content for momentary validation.
In the play, Rembges is ‘Host’, a nameless zero-hours contract worker who is doing bleak agency hospitality work for a very high-profile tech conference. The guests are the super-rich Elon Musks of the world and former conservative prime ministers. Host is the self-described ‘Alan Sugar of memes’ and is trying to break into the TikTok world. This gig could be the perfect opp to get some stellar content, destined to go viral – but, of course, it’s under Chatham House Rules.
Expertly crafted, the story jumps between online and offline, past and present, so that we never quite know what is real in Rembges’s scatty fever dream. He doesn’t lose us, though. Instead, the structure reminds us of how badly the near-constant flow of information has shortened our attention spans.
He covers a lot of ground in his hour – billionaires, Etonians, greenwashing, the Tory government, NHS cuts, AI, Florence Pugh – but it never feels too much. Vivid writing and a carefully-crafted plot means that even the more abstract characters are convincing, aided by the use of the enlarged glitchy phone screen in the background. At once tense and painful as well as hilariously witty, it’s a clever critique on The Establishment while never seeming too in-your-face.