REVIEW: You Matched With… by Diana Hognogi, Women Writers Festival at Etcetera Theatre 26 – 28 March 2026
‘slick, hilarious fast-paced production that leans confidently into satire while never losing sight of the very human vulnerabilities at its core’ ★★★★⯪
‘You Matched With…’ isn’t just any rom-com. In a science-fiction like setting that feels too close to reality and a splash of on-point dark humour, ‘You Matched With…’ masters the rom-com genre to produce an up to date commentary on AI, and the difficulties of finding human connection in our online dating era.
The show opens as Em, laying on her couch and stuck to her phone, asks Chat GPT for help with her online romances. She relies on it for everything: from over-analysing simple messages to sexting or seeking emotional comfort, she is almost using AI as therapy. As she pushes it too far, the Chatbot takes over, reconstructing the men of Em’s past as ‘Romantic Accountability Avatars’, forcing her to confront the ghosts of connections half-formed and abruptly abandoned. It’s a deliciously uncomfortable concept, played for both laughs and quiet recognition.
‘You Matched With…’ captures the loneliness one can feel in the online dating world. The complaints of being ghosted whilst also ghosting people, the constant yearn for connection without ever being genuine, too afraid to scare the other with true feelings, hiding behind memes and Chat GPT sexting advice. But the play goes further to assert a clear warning on the AI-controlled world we’re heading into, as the Chatbot, represented on stage as a white man (coincidence?), is omniscient and unstoppable. A world where young people sell their data without realising it, and turn to AI to understand their feelings when therapy remains unaffordable for most, which ultimately, only disconnects them further from reality.
Incredible directing from Hannah O’Reilly who does justice to Diana Hognogi’s splendid writing: physicality and movement onstage is flawless, and the chemistry and tension between the actors is always palpable. It is rare to see such impeccable acting and ensemble cohesion in a pub theatre production. Evangeline Beaven, who
plays Em, carries the piece with a finely tuned performance, full of wit and vulnerability, fighting as she spirals into dependency. Opposite her, Alex McCaragher’s chatbot is a masterclass in tonal precision: poker-faced, smug, and somewhat unsettling, he delivers algorithmic wisdom that lands somewhere between therapy-speak and targeted advertising. When the façade begins to crack, the shift is all the more compelling.
Em’s three romantic interests, Elliott, Tom and Adam, respectively played by Andrew Friedman, Frankie Wade and Jude Alp, embody sharply-written and well-shaped clichés of men, performed with excellent comedic timing. Friedman injects kinetic energy into the production, his rapid-fire exchanges capturing the exhausting rhythm of digital flirtation. Wade’s sweet vulnerability is comically heartwarming while Alp’s character, so arrogant he could think he invented philosophy himself, is ridiculously too real.
‘You Matched With…’ is a slick, hilarious fast-paced production that leans confidently into satire while never losing sight of the very human vulnerabilities at its core. En Route Theatre Company seems to have a promising future…
REVIEW: You Matched With…at Etcetera Theatre 26 – 28 March 2026
Written by Diana Hognogi & Produced by En Route Theatre Company
