Will splashing cash on Instant Luv-Noodles really solve your life and mend a lonely heart?
Instant Luv-Noodles is a work-in-progress new musical comedy centred around Naomi, (Marina Hata) a young, hopeful woman looking for friendship, romance and family acceptance.
Struggling to keep a boyfriend (Joshua Gibbs) who wants her, a friend (Laura Kent) who gets her and a mother (Yiqian Shao) who is supportive. Naomi is stuck. With nowhere to turn, she finds herself buying online, this gives her comfort and thus begins her shopping addiction. The more she buys, the better she feels about her lonely life.
After her boyfriend breaks up with her because she is “not the protagonist” in her own life, Naomi turns back to her internet shopping and comes across an add for “Instant Luv-Noodles”, a company that sells your instant relationship and promises to “solve all your problems”. We follow Naomi on her journey as she falls deep into an addiction with buying the perfect life. Yes, these instant relationships make her feel better in the moment, but with them lasting only 5 hours – she finds herself spending more money to keep the fantasy alive.
The songs are simple, catchy and poppy with moments of humour sprinkled throughout. The ensemble work well together and show clear differences between their real-life characters compared to their upgraded, happier-than-ever, fantasy versions. In this rehearsed reading at The Other Palace we were shown a snippet from the beginning and the end of the piece to give an idea of the arc as a whole.
The concept is interesting and relatable. The idea came from Tsukuri Miyano (Writer) who was inspired by her Japanese background and the “host clubs” that reside in Japan. Women would go to these swanky clubs and be attended by attractive men, this came at a steep price and put many women into debt. Desperate to find a connection they would do anything to pay in order to feel loved. In comparison to this, dating apps like Tinder and Hinge now use money walls to offer better matches thus putting true love at a higher pay rate. How can we navigate our love lives when it comes at such a price?
This charming piece has lots of potential! I’m looking forward to seeing where Instant Luv-Noodles pops up next and you should too.