December 10, 2025
Why do we love real couples on stage? | Thoughts on audience reactions to genuine theatre romance
MickeyJoTheatreAbout this episode
Mickey-Jo has been thinking recently about why it is that theatre audiences seem to be enamoured with the notion of seeing a real life couple performing together onstage, even though they're portraying characters other than themselves. The answers may seem obvious, but there is some nuance to uncover here as we consider the various different ways in which a couple can perform together - as lovers, enemies, or even divorcees. In the last few months, this has seemed to become more frequent, with Andrew Barth Feldman and Helen J Shen in Maybe Happy Ending, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Joel Montague in Elf, and Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney in Cabaret. Check out some of the other examples and share your own thoughts about why this feels so appealing to audiences in the comments! • 00:00 | introduction 03:28 | falling in love 11:46 | enemies to lovers 18:29 | married / divorced 27:37 | non-romantic 35:35 | conclusion About Mickey-Jo: As one of the leading voices in theatre criticism on a social platform, Mickey-Jo is pioneering a new medium for a dwindling field. His YouTube channel: MickeyJoTheatre is the largest worldwide in terms of dedicated theatre criticism, where he also share features, news and interviews as well as lifestyle content for over 95,000 subscribers. With a viewership that is largely split between the US and the UK he has been fortunate enough to be able to work with PR, Marketing, and Social Media representatives for shows in New York, London, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Toronto, Sao Pãolo, and Paris. His reviews and features have also been published by WhatsOnStage, for whom he was a panelist to help curate nominees for their 2023 and 2024 Awards as well as BroadwayWorldUK, Musicals Magazine and LondonTheatre.co.uk. Instagram/TikTok/X: @MickeyJoTheatre Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.