World Factory, Young Vic ***

As an antisocial type, being told that the show will involve talking to people almost brought me out in palpitations. Luckily, I was on a table with three lovely people and I just about survived the ordeal. Unfortunately, whilst it deals with challenging issues rather well, as a person in my group remarked, World Factory was 'one sprout away from a Christmas game'. The 'show' involves different groups acting as Factory Owners in China and making decisions about our factories taking either ethical or economic decisions based on cards which are handed out. It did feel like it should be on the shelf of a game shop rather than a theatrical experience. Our four hosts start the Game with some verbatim interviews of British and Chinese workers and parts of speeches from Thatcher and Reagan. This part is really interesting and would make a far more challenging production. I get that they are trying to get us to think about the decisions we make and get an insight into the world of the factory but I think, as a piece of theatre, the verbatim approach works far better than a glorified parlour game.