Reviews

'Remembers the lost' ★★★ ½ The air is forty shades of blue as two men, in separate bedrooms and apartments, have hard core, full-on, explicit telephone sex, their fantasies batted back and forth. JR, a he-man in the Tom Selleck mould with lots of body and a mid-west drawl, is fully invested and drives forward with an urgent need. Bert, slimmer built, more sensitive and a little detached, listens carefully to JR and mirrors him - or whatever the audio equivalent is. The masturbatory conversations finish when their purpose is achieved. As these mutually relieving conversations continue over evenings, weeks and months, we learn more about the characters as small reveals slip through the sexual content. JR (Paul Dennison AKA Mr Gay England 2021 and Mr Gay Europe 2022) is a military man who served in Vietnam. Recovering from an injury, there’s a subtext of Christian belief as he struggles with questions of morality and sin best expressed by a strange story he tells Bert that involves them both being ‘purified’. He may be married or passing as heterosexual in the world outside these illicit conversations. Bert (James Lee) is intellectually superior to JR, more relaxed with his sexuality and more nuanced as an actor. Out of the closet, he finds joy not shame in his lived life. Although he finds some of JR’s attitudes curious and despite their obvious differences, the two men draw closer, sharing collective fantasies and intimacies. When Bert is laid low following the bereavement of a close friend, JR listens, and as their conversations start to separate the sexual from the emotional, feelings begin to shift and deepen. Set in 1980s San Francisco, JERKER is set at a terrifying time when AIDS was decimating entire communities of gay men. Although the word AIDS is not mentioned once, it weaves in and out of the text as an unspoken, fearful spectre. The story arc is built through the phone calls alone - with no action outside these - and each phone call and time span is broken up by a poppy, feel-good music choice of the era (sound design by director, Henry Adams & Scott Michaels) including Madonna, Blondie, Prince and the Eurythmics. At 85-minutes long with no interval, this 18+ production by Adam Roebuck, has some issues with pacing and transitions. While the middle section, when the two men start to grow closer, is fully engaging , the beginning and end are drawn out in different ways. Theatrically, it starts with a long bang - which gives a new dimension to the cock and ball story - and finishes with a long whimper. The audience understands what's unfolded, and Paul Dennison as JR is left isolated and exposed, probably for too long. That said, this is a moving piece that recalls a time when shocking numbers of gay men vanished from the world forever. Forty years after Robert Chelsey’s debut of JERKER in San Francisco, this revival invites us to remember all those who were lost. BOX OFFICE Cast: JR - Paul Dennison Bert - James Lee​​​​ ​ Creatives: Director: Henry Adams Assistant Director/Intimacy Director: Alice Camarota Set/Costume: Waterloo East Theatre Lighting Design: Jonathan Simpson Sound Design: Henry Adams & Scott Michaels QLab Programing: Dylan Salinger Stage Manager: Jack Firman Photography & Videography: Scott Michaels

‘plays with expectations and identity, constantly shifting our understanding of relationships’ ★★★★ A middle-aged man who still finds himself very attractive walks into a bar to find a young woman who’s asked to meet him. She says he’s her father. From the first tonal shift as Doug adjusts to this unexpected situation, Girl Out Of The Blue plays with expectations and identity, constantly shifting our understanding of relationships between three characters whose past have been submerged and Abi, a girl (Miranda Braun) who wants to know who she is. Doug (Jonathan Sidgwick) is a journalist, a jack-the-lad playboy who, even married with two teenage daughters, is still an eternal chancer. Maya (Seeta Indrani), his wife, wants nothing to do with the unexpected arrival of a new step-daughter into her well-ordered existence. Beth (Sarah Berger), the mother of Doug’s unknown daughter, has done all she can to keep him unknowing. Giles Cole’s sharp, episodic play sets brief scenes in wine bars, outdoor spaces, homes as the older triangle navigate the new waters Abi’s decision to seek out her father has revealed. Abi herself (and Braun’s is the pick of the performances as a girl both confident and vulnerable) is never clear what she wants – a dad, a relationship with a man who was never a meaningful dad, just a sense of where she came from. The play’s structure and dialogue sometimes feel televisual, with short scenes and some slightly awkward transitions between them and speeches in which characters say whatever is on their minds without much filler, suspense or subtext. But the power of the emerging relationship between father and daughter is the heart of the play as Doug and Abi move from suspicion and uncertainty to trust and comfort and back to something less easy as Abi finds out more about a father who left her mother for another woman he’d made pregnant and has other skeletons in a rather grubby closet. Most scenes are duets, and the mother-daughter sequences between Berger and Braun touchingly find both their vulnerabilities in a warm if sometimes touchy relationship. Braun and Sidgwick combine brilliantly, too, his shiftiness and the ever-present hint of sleaze playing a significant role as she finds out more about him. The third pairing, of Doug and Maya, works less well, with something of a mismatch of styles as Sidgwick plays Doug big and Indrani remains very understated even in her moments of biggest emotion; individually fine acting choices, but not collectively persuasive on why these two would ever have married at all. Sound design is great, the simple set works well in creating multiple locations in a small space, and the show remains gripping throughout its fairly brief length. Alexander Marshall and Close Quarter Productions in association with Holocener Ltd present: GIRL OUT OF THE BLUE by Giles Cole at the Tabard Theatre 23 September to 10 October 2026. Box Office: https://www.tabard.org.uk Cast Sarah Berger | Beth Seeta Indrani | Maya Jonathan Sidgwick | Doug Miranda Braun | Abi Creative Team Alexander ‘Sandy’ Marshall | Producer Holofcener Ltd | Co-producer Close Quarter Productions | Producer Jonas Cemm | Director Giles Cole | Writer Bethany Blake | Designer William Godfree | Composer Andrew Johnson | Sound Designer Alexandra Kataigida | Production/Stage Manager Reviewer David Weir writes The Westminster Mysteries novel series, including The Honourable Member for Murder and Motion for Murder. Plays include Confessional (Oran Mor, Glasgow), Murdering the Truth (Greenwich Theatre, London) and Better Together (Jack Studio, Brockley, London).

‘a veritable miracle elixir of tragedy and comedy’ 👻👻👻👻 Spine chilling For the London location of this show, there could have been no finer home than the Bridewell Theatre just off the infamous Fleet Street; home of the Demon Barber himself. Walking down the street from the stunning St Paul’s Cathedral right past the very address of the pie shop and barbers was the perfect atmosphere to welcome me into this gripping tale. Stepping into the intimate auditorium, I was greeted by a haunting sombre orchestral choir and a stage lit by candlelight; an eerie welcome indeed. As the house lights went down, Mrs. Lovett herself, played by writer Lucy Rosyln, slowly steps forward to begin our journey, in this solo performance. Lucy’s portrayal of Mrs. Lovett is equal parts hilarious and frightening. Recounting the tragic and illuminating events that would soon lead her to becoming the accomplice of a madman, her demeanour switches rapidly between gleeful and despairing as she engages with the audience in a welcoming manner, enticing quite a few laughs. The demon manages to charm you with a smile... for a while. Drawing on comparisons between man and animal throughout the play, she speaks of the savage nature of man’s soul. Animal noises are played throughout the performance consisting of the barks of stray dogs, the squeals of pigs, the neighs of horses and the songs of whales. Prostitutes are referred to as ‘Winchester Geese’. The wails of her parents are compared to whale songs. The buried bodies of the unnamed in Crossbones Graveyard are referred to as trimmings. Making her point that the only real difference between man and beasts is the language we speak. This is a woman desperately seeking to belong in a world that cages her true nature. Her desperate sense of wanting to belong is shown by her insisting to be referred to by her first name, Eleanore. Doing her best to remain seen as a person even as she slides ever closer to becoming a monster. In the movie and the musical, she is solely referred to as Mrs. Lovett. Nothing more than a wife. An object of possession. But here? Just her? She’s Eleanore. Tragedy plagues every corner of Eleanore’s life, and you find yourself sympathizing with her character. Hearing her recount her story of when the carcass of a whale washed up on the bank of the Thames and she cried with pity. It’s easy to forget this young girl will become the woman who bakes bodies into pies. She takes you on a journey of your own along with her; a journey of understanding how a person becomes what they are. It’s up to you if you can find the balance, if you can. Sympathizing with someone’s past while condemning their present. Her anger is also shown throughout, and a lot of this is placed towards God. Unable to find solace and protection through Him, she seeks it elsewhere. Her butcher’s table becomes her altar, where she alone has control over life and death. She wears only her nightclothes while carving up the remains of the animals that find their way to her table; allowing us to see her open and vulnerable for just a little while. She shows the helplessness of women in the Victorian era. The things they go through and the things they had to do to survive. Not that much has changed between then and now. Lamenting the struggle of power and the lack of consequences for those in it. She recounts how sin was attempted to be confined to Southwark, and it highlights this power struggle well. The men who venture out there can come back. The women remain trapped. And as her life goes from bad to worse as the years go on, we see her shed her skin of innocence and goodness. When faced with utter desperation, morals are usually the first sacrifice. What use is goodness in a world that insists on handing you the bad? It’s hard for a solo performer to maintain people’s attention on their own. But Roslyn’s gripping and entertaining portrayal of Eleanore Lovett manages to make the 70-minute runtime fly by, to the point where I found myself disappointed when the play came to an end. There’s an unhinged beauty to the performance, and you find yourself almost entranced. The limited set consisting of a single table with few props helps to keep your attention on the leading lady. Clearly you can tell this story is something Roslyn is deeply passionate about, and it absolutely shows in her hauntingly beautiful performance. Overall, this show is a veritable miracle elixir of tragedy and comedy detailing the powerful notions of God, savagery and womanhood. If you have the chance to catch this show at the Cheltenham Everyman on the 30th September, the Chichester Festival Theatre on the 1st of October or the Exeter Phoenix on the 8th of October please do, you’ll absolutely ‘Lovett’! Further coverage of LPTM HORROR SEASON 2026 can be found here LOVETT Written and performed by Lucy Roslyn Directed by Jamie Firth Sound Design by Annie May Fletcher Artwork by Madison Coby Cheltenham Everyman - 30 September, 7.45pm | Tickets Here Chichester Festival Theatre, The Nest - 1 October, 8pm | Tickets Here Exeter Phoenix - 8 October, 7.30pm | Tickets Here Reviewer Laura King is a 28-year-old aspiring writer of novels and plays, with her first novel aiming to be finished this year. She studied Productions Arts at Weston College before moving to London and finding work within the theatre industry with both ATG and DMT. She has previously found work as a life admin assistant to Olivier award winner Janie Dee and has collaborated with her on such shows as ‘Putting It Together’ and ‘Janie Dee’s Beautiful World Cabaret’.

“Tailwind’s use of connection, and more significantly, disconnection, shines.” ★★★★★ In the spaces between each letter of its title, G R I E F C A S E attempts to hold the hollow, the messy, and the universal. Its success as a show lies not in the success of this attempt, but rather, in its acknowledgement of the absolute impossibility of doing so. G has just turned 30, but a birthday party and series of office meetings turn suddenly into days clearing out their late mother’s council flat after it’s already been rented to a new resident. Half empty suitcases stick out of the set’s walls, the floor appears splattered with ink. In their design of the traverse set, Ru Lawrence and Toby Hampton capture the transience both of the literal flat and of grief itself.  In the devised movement of the piece, the company cleverly links the birthday party, meetings, and aftermath of G’s mother’s passing with common visual moments, as the everyday and celebratory flip with scary ease into the weight of fresh grief. The movement language of the show remains consistently effective throughout. As they see visions of their late mother, G revisits the missed visits home and explosive fights. Yet, their attempts to embrace her fail – his mother’s (Collette Hodson) arms go limp and they just won’t stay round G’s neck. This is just one instance in which Tailwind’s use of connection, and more significantly, disconnection, shines. Bodies weave through each other, catch and drop each other, pass just past each other. Material and fabric are manipulated as clothes suffocate and restrict, or a plastic sheet engulfs ensemble members like a giant wave. The show shifts between hilariously awkward Garry’s (Jack St Leger) attempts to console G and G’s friend Lucy’s (Poppy Janisch) own mourning of G’s mum. The first ever co-production of the Hope Theatre, G R I E F C A S E is a well-crafted look at human connection, how it shapes us, and how the grief of a loss reverberates. G R I E F C A S E by Tailwind Physical Theatre at The Hope Theatre, 22 September to 3 October 2026 Produced by Tailwind Physical Theatre and The Hope Theatre 22 Sept - 3 Oct 2026 Tuesday - Saturday Shows at 7pm Tickets £10/£16/£18 Box Office: 0333 666 3366 www.thehopetheatre.com Cast G - Ru Lawrence Mum/Ensemble - Collette Hodson Garry/Ensemble - Jack St Leger Lucy/Ensemble - Poppy Janisch Creative Team Written by Ru Lawrence Devised by Tailwind Physical Theatre Directed by Jack Mckee Lighting Design by Laurel Marks Composition by Phil Roscoe Sound Design by Ru Lawrence Set Design by Ru Lawrence & Toby Hampton Photographer credit: Hamish MacGillivray Social Media Details X: @TheHopeTheatre Facebook: /thehopetheatre Insta: @thehopetheatre @tailwindphysicaltheatre

‘A sobering and moving experience’ ★★★★ Reporting ‘facts’ from warzones should be straightforward. Deaths are deaths, murders are murders, war crimes are war crimes and the incidents or numbers should speak for themselves. But language is never neutral and the validity of numbers is dependent on the language wrapped around them. The question at the heart of Sînziana Cojocărescu’s new play about the Gaza genocide is the value of a human life, how every one should be counted equally but also how the toil of violent acts can be muted and obscured by language. Ultimately, it shows how the number of Palestinian deaths has not been proportionately reflected in media coverage. The First Year (of The Gaza Genocide in the Media) is recounted more or less in a linear way by the cast of four, but the approach is Brechtian. There is a mix of songs, mockumentary, as well as dramatised sequences taking us through those 12 months, with Cojocărescu’s pacy direction maintaining momentum. The video projection (designed by Dan Light) keeps a running total of journalist and Palestinian losses above the striking glass-paned set (designed by Juda Akil). The cast take turns leading the action. Luca Kamleh Chapman starts off as a gameshow-style host. Sara Masry at one point writes the equations of the deaths from each community related to media coverage with the airs of a maths teacher on the glass set. And in one of the most moving sequences, Maryam Abu Khaled plays a mother in Gaza recounting her story. But even in an age of mobile phones and social media, sharing stories and making the world hear is not straightforward. The play cannot tell every story or reveal each document of lives lost from that very first year. It focuses on a few instances, including the murder of Mohammad Bhar and the 200 people killed in Nuseirat during a hostage rescue. The focus of the play is how the media reports these events, from individual incidents to the broader conflict, emphasising the value put on some losses over others. The role of the BBC, and what the play names its so-called ‘impartiality’, comes under particular scrutiny. The forensic research about language in media reporting is relentless. The First Year… is not always an easy watch and nor should it be. It is an example of the vital role theatre can play, sharing stories not shared elsewhere or, in this case, usually told mainly through one perspective. It is therefore a sobering and moving experience. THE FIRST YEAR (OF THE GAZA GENOCIDE IN THE MEDIA) produced by BÉZNĂ Theatre plays at the New Diorama Theatre until 10 October 2026 Box office: https://newdiorama.com/whats-on/the-first-year Creative Team Writer-Director - Sînziana Cojocărescu Co-Writers - Hannah Khalil, Ahmed Masoud & Anonymous Assistant Director - Hassan Al Rawas Set & Costume Designer - Jida Akil Video Designer - Dan Light Lighting Designer - Jodie Underwood Composer - Kareem Samara Sound Designer - Dominic Kennedy Movement Director - Mathew Wernham Researcher - Niveen Haliqawi Research Assistant - Donia Ashour Consultants - Dr Mike Berry, Aseel Mousa, Dr Carrie Westwater Psychological Support - Dr Nimisha Patel Producer - Claire Gilbert for BÉZNĂ Theatre Production Manager - Pete Rickards for eStage Stage Manager - Stacey Nurse Translators - Maryam Abu Khaled, Hassan Al Rawas and Sofia But What Can I Do? Programme Partners - International State Crime Initiative & Shadow World Investigations Cast Maryam Abu Khaled Luca Kamleh Chapman Sara Masry Sofia This production is supported by Arts Council England, Public Engagement Fund of Queen Mary University, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation and Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at The Prism Charitable Trust. Photography: Alex Brenner

“made with tender love and deadly detail” ★★★★ Stephen Wyatt’s LOOK UP TO THE STARS premiered in 2019 and is now on Islington’s pub theatre stage. A camera can take as much as it gives from a film star. And Patricia Meadows, beloved of the screen in the 1954 hit Look Up at the Stars , is no different. After all, the camera light is “burning her skin” but this one-woman show, set in the 1980s after Meadows’ fall from grace, has a more tricksy plot than merely having this actress cry for help. Its genius comes from what the script doesn’t tell us. Does the showbiz hack she has hired ever actually arrive, and how many of her so-called ‘truths’ will stay true by the end? It’s a certain hit for anyone who loves gossip, sumptuous dialogue and human-led drama revealing the person behind a celebrity sketch. Actress, singer and illustrator Jessica Martin, who many may know from the 1988 Doctor Who serial The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, plays the perfect drunken heroine, Meadows. Wyatt and Martin have mastered the whole show-not-tell affair that makes theatre zing, whether through how often Meadows stares over at her brandy glass or, even better, the real reason she will only mention her second husband in passing and never fully describe him. Martin has a wondrous ability to make a film set of the stage. Using her eyes to establish where the camera sits in the audience and making Meadows come alive in front of it - she gives the character a narcissistic magic that keeps us hooked. Wyatt’s words only affirm this when she has a meltdown, wailing that “...nobody is interested, no one turned up at court,” when she stole a pound of mince from Fortnum & Mason. One would expect no less from a Sony Radio Award-winning writer whose theatre and TV work has received plenty of critical acclaim. Despite the play becoming a tad too repetitive and some of the pauses feeling a little too long, the lighting was aided by a detailed set to make this play a treat. A woozy, jazz-filled soundtrack straight from the 1950s only helped with the audience’s ability to float in this world of lights, camera, action. It’s, all in all, a wonderful show made with tender love and deadly detail. With a few tweaks here and there, one only hopes it will be a sold-out hit at the box office. LOOK UP TO THE STARS by Mirror & Mask Productions runs at The Hen and Chickens Theatre Cast Jessica Martin Creatives Written by: Stephen Wyatt Directed by: Jason Moore Produced by: Mirror & Mask Productions

‘endearing solo show’ ★★★ ½ Getting Rekt is an endearing solo show with an intriguing premise, written and performed by Jamie Nowski. On the surface the protagonist Rek is a party animal, a talented rapper, who likes to think he’s on the up, with his ambitions, with the ladies and with his music, but the reality is that he works in a care home and his career in music is non-existent. He does have one special lady though, the 85-year-old Zofia, living with dementia, with whom he has developed a special bond. When she says that she wants to see sunflowers in the midst of winter, Rek takes her out of the care home and into an adventure to find what she is looking for. In the vein of Chanel 4’s short film HELP starring Jodie Cromer, it promises to throw some light on the care system and the work of carers which feels like an important topic. In HELP the stakes are very high, in the midst of lock down, Covid 19 and the scandal of neglect that many elderly people suffered, it was very specific to a certain time. However, the personal relationship between carer and her client showed the incredible commitment and powerful bonds that can develop. In Getting Rekt we see how a young man has his own life, hopes and dreams separate to his job but in his quieter moments, “there is one lady who makes it kinda worth it” and that is Zofia from Poland. Zofia who sees through his façade, she knows that his real name is Derek and he’s from Croydon. They share a love of music, and begin to gain an appreciation of each other’s tastes, Polish classical composers and grime. Then there is also the Polish connection as Derek’s mother is Polish and for a moment there seemed to be a possibility that they might be related. Thankfully this strand is left unresolved, it is a stretch too far. There are many excellent things to admire in this solo play. Nowski does an excellent job of playing all the roles, in particular drawing on physicality to portray Zofia and give her a personality, weighed down by a complicated past. Then there is also a gormless young woman newly recruited to the care system, a geeky art curator and an Irish Matron at the care home, amongst others. The accents sound impeccable (to me) thanks to voice coach Helena Fox. The sound works especially seamlessly with the mime, co-ordinated with precision, and the original music by Jack Bales is lively and adds an upbeat vibe to the piece. The sound and movement for going back in time in the non-linear section of the play, works brilliantly well. However, it’s not all working to its best advantage yet. The play feels too long partly because the through line is a little muddied. It turns out that the story is equally about Rek finding the confidence to follow his dreams of performing rap, which dilutes the more urgent themes of the play. The bracketed subtitle, (The Evening Star), relates to this and switches the premise to home in on ‘celebrity status’ on ‘personal ambition’ and this takes away from the deeper emotional core of the play. The play doesn’t really know what is driving it and this results in the feeling that it’s all one pace, slow and steady, something like a series of vignettes, without enough impetus to keep an audience riveted. The main stake originally appeared to be the mission of seeing the sunflowers before dementia takes away Zofia’s memory, but became about Rek performing as a rapper. It currently lacks the kind of weight that might have the audience feeling the urgency of Rek’s mission and rooting for him to complete his task. GETTING REKT (The Evening Star) at Union Theatre 21 – 24 September 2026 Box Office https://uniontheatre.biz/show/getting-rekt/ Written by and starring Jamie Nowski Creatives Director Finella Waddilove Original Music Design Jack Bales Producers Teryn Gray & Wicked Thistle Productions Photographer Zoë Birkbeck Poster Designer Christine Fitzgerald Vocal Coach Helena Fox

‘A remarkable bold and atmospheric experience’ ★★★ ‘I don’t know what I don’t see - what I don’t fear,” exclaims Olivier-award-winning Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s reworking of Henry James’ celebrated late-Victorian ghost story and In a fierce study of contested truth, this play challenges how we rely upon our own recollections after enduring shock. Tragedy follows when new governess (Amy Tara) takes charge of two orphaned children at the Bly estate. Left to bear the blame alone, she is convinced there is an unexplainable presence lingering over the whole house. But is it genuinely haunted, or is she simply disturbed and consumed by delusion? Lloyd Malcolm adds another question to this; does this terror come from a reality which women have recognised for generations before? This reworking sees the governess subjected to constant cross-examination by a hostile and authoritative male figure (Jim Fish) who appears in another dimension to question the governess’ integrity at regular intervals throughout the play. His true identity is never revealed, but he mostly takes on the role of detective, reflecting the Master of this house but also her own conscience or doubt. This structure allows the introspective narrative element of James’ story to be reflected well on stage, by constantly putting her sanity on trial; the interrogation continues out of this realm, as her reflections are challenged by every other character in the play. Her strength of character is seen both in the opening and at the play’s end as she desperately protests her certainty and sanity. Lloyd Malcolm draws our attention well away from the supernatural and towards the result of male power. The Master is instantly framed as a predatory figure who manipulates women through his strange relationships with the late Quint, alongside the unexplained death of a previous governess. Nicky Allpress creates a heated environment on stage built by subtle details and sudden jumpscares. The decision to double-cast Miles and Flora with their supernatural counterparts serves to not overcrowd the small stage, and to remind us that these children are possessed. This double-casting is played well and eerily by the ‘children’ (Kathleen McAuley Irvine, Toby Beynon), particularly as little is done to infantilise them. Matthew Cassar’s minimalist landscape using framed partitions mimics the passages and rooms of the Bly estate and it is the visual highlight of the play. Oliver McNally and Hattie North add to this to create some genuinely scary moments, but while the jumpscares and other horror features (off-stage whistling, knocking) are executed well, little is done to build up to any real horror climax. The creative team’s reimagining of the relationships between the Governess and the characters is exceptional and works upon ideas already implicit in James’ original story by pushing them to their limits. The result of this is a remarkable bold and atmospheric experience that gives the original tale a real modern resonance. The Turn of the Screw, Produced by Blackeyed Theatre At Arcola Theatre in London, 11 Sep - 10 Oct 2026 Box Office: The Turn of the Screw - Arcola Theatre Directed by Nicky Allpress Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm Cast: Toby Beynon Jim Fish Kathleen McAuley Irvine Janita Mikkola Katy Slater Amy Tara

 ‘The play’s kernel is good but the excess needs cutting away.’ ★★★ Actors love playing actors, full stop. But they love even more to play the skint actor who is struggling to find a job and is late on their rent. After all, it’s an experience which most people in the profession must go through as a rite of passage. And Sufficient Merit, a new play by three such writer-performers, harping magically on this ancient theme is inspired - we are told so clearly by the marketing - by “true events” of this kind. Upbeat, filled with fiery actor crash-outs found bemoaned in monologues about the theatrical profession, this work is most wonderful when it’s most wacky and on the nose. “Imagine losing to AI because your own writing was too shitty,” says one member of the theatre troupe (Emma Paige Baker), maddened by her day job and unable to face the fact that their small theatre venue is being shut down to make a data centre. For yes, we are in the age of AI, which dawns, to now destroy even the small theatre that these three actors run to just keep their hand in the game. Yet, we are also in the realm of ‘Theatre’ with a capital T. T’ai Hartley, playing the trio’s only male appears telling us in soliloquy about the time he sacrificed his third nipple to the Greek gods of theatre to make it in the acting world. Clearly granting his wish, a miracle helps Hartley land a role with none other than director Martin Scorsese by the play's end. We are buoyed along in these throws of such anxiety, elemental passion, offerings from the divine and the slow digital creep of AI sweeping the very foundations of these thespians' lifestyle away. An opening scene is a particular treat and rounded off with cunning, startling the audience when we learn this work will not be a Western, ruled by gun-slingers, after all. But the writing can plod along, stuttering in sequences and over-the-top costumes that need to be carefully considered with the play’s heavier themes. The play’s kernel is good but the excess needs cutting away, the pained wonder of the acting profession is enough in this piece. In a striking moment half way through, Hartley’s face sours into a desperate indifference with his acting career. If “he could just fail” and know that the gods were telling him “no” and confirm they were “going in a different direction”, then he could give up in peace. But his hopeless eyes - begging for a break - still look to the audience as if by some divine authority we could give him what he wants. Sufficient Merit at Canal Cafe Theatre from 16 - 20 September 2026 BOX OFFICE: https://canalcafetheatre.com/our-shows/sufficient-merit/ CREATIVES: Written by T’ai Hartley, Alia Lahlou, Emma Piage Baker and Eleanor Dunlop Directed by Eleanor Dunlop and Emily Serdahl CAST: T’ai Hartley Alia Lahlou Emma Paige Baker Photography credit: Shira Klasmer.