Zachariah Chamberlaine is the author of Going Viral, one of the short plays in Happy Hour – four short comedies. He tells us a little bit about the theme of the play:

“Somewhat ironically, I’m writing this post to advertise my play on the topic of how I hate advertising. Maybe I should clarify that statement a little – how I hate annoyingly aggressive advertising. I don’t mind being made subtly aware of things that may interest me in a way that I can easily choose to ignore. But I detest telemarketing, pop-ups, and the seemingly endless commercials that gatekeep content.

I remember when an online news site announced that they would stop forcing people to watch commercials before being allowed to access news about the Ukraine war, because it had been deemed ‘somewhat insensitive’. Too bloody right! But to be honest, I think forcing people to watch adverts before they can access all kinds of other information is pretty deplorable, too. For me, the question we should be asking ourselves is, when does advertising go from being ‘a useful piece of info for the ordinary person’ to ‘an irritating imposition on our daily lives’? And also, what should be done to halt its insidious march into our devices and minds?

When I was writing ‘Going Viral’, I asked myself the question ‘what next?’ with regard to overly in-your-face advertising. I could envisage various hideous scenarios, but as this was planned to be only a twenty-minute play, I picked one and ran with it. Which one, you may ask. Well, in traditional ‘loot box’ style, you’ll have to come to the show to find out 😉”