What I liked
What I didn't like
…
My overall impression
Charming storytelling. I am very glad to have caught the final performance of “F- Tinder”. David Rowdin takes you on this rollercoaster storytelling piece that leads you on an extraordinary tale of post-relationship Tinder dates, existential pain, exotic highlights and a seemingly endless array of romantic encounters. There is a spiritual message at the heart of it, as our narrator David notices how his heart is closing up through a string of emotional hurts. He then quotes the Biblical passage he’d learned at Hebrew School discussing ‘removing the covering around the heart’ (literally the original Hebrew talks about circumcising or removing the foreskin of the heart).
David Rodwin has a great storytelling technique that combines vulnerability, comic timing & a great selection of material. There is a tremendous pain underlying the piece as his character jumps from woman to woman in the pursuit of getting the love from the outside, although we see time and again how that love can never be found from an outside source until he learns to love himself. This means giving up on the women with low self-esteem who treat him badly and learning instead to find someone who loves themselves and has the emotional stability necessary to be part of a stable relationship. Despite the inner pain that appears to run at the core of the piece, there is a great lightness of touch and entertaining delivery, so this works well as a late-night show.
The person in the audience seat next to me, slightly drunk/buzzed/high, punctuated comments throughout the performance like “true dat”, “so wise”, “yeah man I’m there”, as if to underscore that ‘F*** Tinder’ landed in his heart.
The spiritual quest of F- Tinder deepens amidst the story of frenzied physical lust: we hear how the narrator’s yearning for creating a family is frustrated in a relationship which is purely physical, being with a partner who has no interest in having children, and David then quotes the “Shema” prayer which talks about love of God and teaching it to your children.
