'We can all be awkward together': Bron Batten puts love under the spotlights
For most people, going on a first date is their worst nightmare. For Bron Batten, it's her job.
"Essentially, it's because I'm a masochist," says Batten of Onstage Dating, the show in which she dates a stranger for 45 minutes each night. Under lights. In front of an audience.
Bron Batten has taken a bold new approach to dating.
Photo: Theresa Harrison Photography"[Dating] is that thing that everybody has in common," Batten adds. "When people come up to me after the show and say, 'Oh, I went on this date or that date', it's so present in the modern world, especially online dating. It's a very common experience, and the show exposes that and brings that commonality into the room and we can all be awkward together."
The concept is simple: each night, willing audience members fill out a questionnaire, answering simple questions that range from height, weight and age to do they like fiction or nonfiction; milk or dark chocolate? Batten then chooses a match and they are brought on stage for a first date. So far, so terrifying.
For the next 45 minutes, Batten guides her date through US psychologist Arthur Aron's famous "love questions", which range from "What would constitute a perfect day?" to "Of all the people in your family, whose death would you find most disturbing?" and are designed to accelerate the process of falling in love.
The result is an hilarious, award-winning show that deconstructs modern dating and keeps Batten on her feet, as she juggles her first date with keeping an audience entertained.
Batten says she hit on the idea for the show after watching friends wade through the swamp that is modern online dating.
"It's almost like a performance itself," she says. "Where you go and meet someone and you're trying to project a version of yourself that is real and not real.
"It came from a desire to explore that convention, particularly with apps like Tinder or Grindr, which are so brutal and immediate. A chance to put that on stage and in public and say, 'Are we OK with this?' Is this the best way we could meet each other?' "
Batten doesn't believe Aron's "love questions" can lead to romance, but she says they can make people reveal quite a lot about themselves.
"I have had people tell me really amazing things," she says. "Particularly the last time they cried is often a funeral. Often with men, it's years ago. Whereas with mine it's today because I saw something bad on TV."
Batten says one thing the shows have taught her is that it's good to have an open mind about people.
"You can change your opinion in as short a time as 45 minutes," she says. "And with something like Tinder, where you make such snap judgments about each other, that really challenges that dismissiveness that online dating can promote. Even if you give someone 45 minutes, you can completely change your opinion, open up and give people a chance."
Now that she has performed the show more than 50 times, from London to Darwin, New Zealand, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, is there one city or country that is better at dating?
"I'm a sucker for a posh accent and a weak chin, so probably London," she says, laughing.
Onstage Dating is at Griffin Theatre from April 27-28, as part of the Batch Festival.