Reviews

‘An entertaining hour of fun and thrills. Giving the boys a run for their money.’ ★★★★ In deepest, darkest Essex, Bex and Yaz find themselves in a tricky situation. Bex, who has a driving ban, due to her penchant for speeding, pops out for a sneaky Mackie D and accidentally hits a pensioner. This unfortunate incident puts Bex’s life in peril. How will the two bosom buddies get out of this one? Doughnut Drive, written, directed and featuring Finella Waddilove as Yaz, is a comedy criminal caper set in England’s badlands, home of the Cursed Land Rover. With sharp writing and well delivered comic beats, here are two engaging characters whose relationship, replete with cockney banter, is core to the narrative. Yaz, kitted out in 1990s sportswear and Adidas stripes, lives in her own imagination, has a childlike enthusiasm for random subjects and may be on the spectrum. Bex, performed by Sarah Parkins, is the straighter, more mature character who says less but drives the story forward more. She’s grieving for her father but this is deliberately underplayed, “I’m not a Moon Pig card.” Waddilove has a talent for comic timing. Sometimes, she doesn’t have to say anything, just a confused or nonplussed glance has the audience in peels of laughter. With time-specific and atmospheric sound design by Cameron Pike, this is a jaunty and entertaining, well-paced hour of fun and thrills; I actually could have done with another ten minutes, especially in the final act. That aside, it’s great to see a female spin on what has traditionally been male Guy Ritchie type- territory. The relationship between these two bird blokes of Billericay is warm, funny, and engaging. It’s great to see historically male narrative territory and, the familiar fare of film, remapped through a female lens onto the stage. Catch the girl geezers while you can; they will put some cheer into the chilly evenings. DOUGHNUT DRIVE by Finella Waddilove at Drayton Arms 25 - 29 November 2025 BOX OFFICE Cast Sarah Parkins & Finella Waddilove Writer/Director Finella Waddilove Producer Rachel Duncan Assistant Producer George Bird Composer/Lighting Designer/Technician Cameron Pike

‘Ingenious but esoteric’ ★★ Two actors are in a gloomy theatre dressing room. The show, which rumbles in the background via relay, is Julius Caesar. They are understudies to Brutus (John Chisham) and Cassius (Adam Goodbody). “ He [Caesar] doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus; and we petty men walk under his huge legs”. These men are bored because there have been a hundred performances but neither has ever been on – a pretty unlikely situation in real theatrical life – so they find playful ways of amusing themselves. They are, however, so mired in Julius Caesar that conversation is often mingled with text from the play (all captioned) and they help each other with line learning so we hear a lot of Shakespeare. Thus it inches towards being the advertised “radical reworking” of Julius Caesar. Then something happens on stage in the distance which changes everything and we see increasing tension between the understudies. A power cut adds to the drama. And don’t forget there’s a ghost scene in Julius Caesar. Petty Men is effectively a play within a play but the storytelling gets lost. It’s an intriguing concept but it would fall pretty flat if you weren’t familiar with the plot and text of Julius Caesar. Moreover it loses plausibility on several counts. Two actors dissing the skills of their leading man amongst themselves would refer to their colleague as “Fred Blogs” not as “Caesar”. Moreover I’m pretty sure that no actor learns lines by randomly committing act, scene and line numbers to memory. Response to cues would be far more natural. And at the Petty Men press performance a chunk of dialogue was repeated and it was unclear whether this was deliberate (and if so, why?) or down to first night nerves. This play seems to be trying to pose some interesting questions: Can actors change the world? If you commit to an acting career what are your expectations? What can Julius Caesar teach us in 2025? And more. Sadly none of them is fully explored. And all of that is a pity because a great deal of work and thought has evidently gone into this show which certainly highlights the talents of two decent actors and their director. Petty Men by John Chisham, Julia Levai & Adam Goodbody Directed by Julia Levai Presented by Buzz Studios Arcola Theatre, Studio 2 Box Office https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/pettymen/ Cast: John Chisham and Adam Goodbody Direction by Júlia Levai; Set and Costume Design: Tomás Palmer; Lighting Design: Lucía Sánchez Roldán; Sound Design: Tingying Dong; Caption Design: Perri Schofield; Dramaturgy: Sofia Gallucci; Access Support: Megan Ekinsmyth; Creative Consultancy: Pinny Grylls; Technical Stage Management: Emily Darley Produced by Tom Dixon (Buzz Studios) Photo credits: Olivia Spencer

'The ending lands, but the road there is bumpy.‘ ★★ ½ What happens when we put our loved ones on a pedestal? That's the question behind An Ideal Husband, a social comedy by Oscar Wilde. When a blackmailer shows up, a devoted wife learns that her husband's past isn't as a spotless as she believed. Can he escape ruin? And can she forgive him for destroying the image she cherished? In typical Wilde fashion, the proceedings play out in a flurry of wry one-liners. Much of the mechanics revolve around the husband's bachelor friend, Lord Goring, who tries to save the day. The production calls itself ‘a stripped down reimagining set in the rehearsal room, imbued with a gritty naturalism that juxtaposes with Wilde’s flamboyant prose’. That sounds promising, but it's (a) not quite true and (b) doesn't quite work. Naturalism generally encourages you to forget that you're watching actors, well, act. This production does the opposite. The first half is essentially a staged reading: a row of tables, with the performers seated in one long line. Movement is rare. The second half breaks things up— literally. The tables are split apart and shoved to the sides. The actors zip around on their office chairs, chasing each other across the stage. Is it naturalistic? Of course not, but it's a lot more engaging than the static part that came before. If the slow burn is intentional, it's a miscalculation. Seated actors winking at the audience, scripts in hand, can be entertaining—but not for an hour. The first half consequently drags, and it's difficult to get emotionally invested. What follows is more inventive. It also makes clever use of the staging concept to drive home a critique of Wilde's text . The ending lands, but the road there is bumpy. That being said, the cast is generally excellent. Lizzie MacGregor radiates quiet strength as the disillusioned wife, Lady Chiltern. Every line by antagonist Mrs. Cheveley (Anastasia Velikoraodnaya) gleams with spiteful mischief. Veteran director Ramin Gray has embraced his actors' international backgrounds, and accents run riot. Ingénue Mabel (Philippine Velge) is now exuberantly French, while her brother Lord Chiltern (German Segal) is not. Does it matter? Not at all. It's refreshing and it's fun. Most controversial for Wilde enthusiasts, perhaps, is the choice to have the quintessentially English Lord Goring (Michael Tcherepashenets) spoken in a southern drawl, cowboy hat to boot. Lines that are usually rapid-fire quips are now delivered in a slow American deadpan. Goring slouches in his chair, any remnants of emotion hidden behind dark glasses, and observes the chaos around him. As a result he is set apart—the outsider reluctant to fully join his society's mores. It's a bold choice. It could be terrible. But it works. In fact, the majority of bold choices this play makes work. The issue is that it takes an hour to get to most of them. Creatives Directed by Ramin Gray Cast Lord Goring: Michael Tcherepashenets Lord Chiltern: German Segal Lady Chiltern: Lizzie MacGregor Mabel Chiltern: Philippine Velge Laura Cheveley: Anastasia Velikorodnaya Lord Caversham: John Rice Lady Markby: Jane Hamlet

‘Political clowning; bizarre, hallucinogenic, irresistible’ ★★★ ½ Clutching a fist full of laurels from Canada’s fringe theatre scene, a double act from Toronto have brought their show, Colonial Circus, an irresistible mix of clowning, dance, satire & improvisation to London. “If you look at what colonialism did to the world, the whole thing feels like an absurd joke…like a handful of clowns went on a massive power trip…and somehow the world just played along” explain creators and performers, Shreya Parashar and Sachin Sharma of Two2Mango. A combination of Commedia dell’arte and Bouffon Clowning, the two have white faces and painted circles around their eyes, red velvet slippers and Noggin the Nog bonnets with jester’s bells secreted inside. A bizarre, avant-garde, slightly wild sight, the audience, unmoored and disarmed, are not only entertained but, through eighty hallucinogenic minutes, enlightened. They come to understand how it might feel to be colonised by an alien species, with their strange religion and tableware, delicate ways, and little fingers. The opening sequence involves an ancient and tribal Mongolian chant and a long bolt of red, shiny cloth, held ceremoniously by the two performers. Sharma is taller than Shreya and as the piece unfolds, the red cloth – which may represent the silk road - acts as a secondary curtain, stage, path, boat, costume, or puppet. The initial chanting and parading of the red cloth, it could be a funeral dirge, goes on uncomfortably long, but has a purpose. The sounds and words, difficult to locate or reference, compel audiences into a position of passivity and reception. What is going on here? What is this all about? And that’s only for ten minutes! Imagine if this feeling were held for an entire lifetime and through several generations? Although, they state in the opening preamble: ‘We are not a circus’, this piece involves some metaphorical tight-rope walking. How to take the non-brown audience with you while confronting the evil deeds of their ancestors? How to offer the tools for empathy and understanding and enable the boot to be worn on the other foot? How to do all this yet still raise laughs and give value to ticket buyers? Challenging white guilt and debunking white saviours, colonialism is condensed into a series of simple scenes, easy enough for a child to understand. The nebulous distinctions between the savage and civilised, the principles of stealing and pillaging from others, both treasure, nature, culture and resources, the idea of white and British supremacy, the dissing of another’s religion and life, the starving of subjugates, “the Bengal Famine with 3 million dead, ‘like your Irish Famine’ “has still received no apology from any British dignitary. The list is horrific, but the performance remains entertaining and engaging even with some entire scenes in the Indian language, a performative reclaiming of the mother tongue. Colonial Circus, an organic piece, has grown with every performance and evolved according to the responses and interaction of the audience and will continue to grow and evolve. After good reviews in Canada, the performers chose to come to Britain, whose map was once pink with belligerent triumph and land grabs. Colonial Circus demonstrates a real sadness behind the clown’s mask, gives space to experience one’s own humanity and illustrates the communicative power of comedy and performance. The show marked its fiftieth performance at The Rosemary Branch. Here’s to the next fifty... COLONIAL CIRCUS Review at Rosemary Branch Theatre 19 – 23 Nov 20252 Presented by Two 2 Mango Website: www.two2mango.com Instagram: @two.2.mango

‘Original, thoughtful and mildly traditional’ ★★★ ½ This hip-hop pantomime is genuinely different. Sonia Jalay tells a strong story predicated on the importance of imagination, a quality we all have in our heads but it’s vulnerable. And although most of the traditional elements (slosh scene, sing along, children on stage, calling out, two person cow) are in, there aren’t many puns or tedious one liners. And it’s bespoke for Hammersmith. There’s a distinct, and very welcome, freshness here. Jack Trott (Joey James), dressed in school uniform, is about to start at the Fleshcreep Academy where his sister Jill (Sienna Widd) is already established and his mother (Sam Harrison) is a dinner lady. The school is Dickensian with headteacher, Sir Fleshcreep MBE (John Partridge) coming somewhere between Mr Creakle and Miss Trunchbull as he menaces the children and their imaginations into submission. He looks and sounds like Nigel Farage too. The worst punishment is being “sent to the giant” Then in the second half, when we arrive in the giant’s kingdom, we’re effectively inside Fleshcreep’s head and it isn’t pretty. The show opens with the terrifically talented Jade Hackett as Fairy Godfather. She sports a delicious Caribbean accent, moves like rubber, commands the stage and looks hilarious cuddling up to her love interest, Mama Trott, who is at least 18 inches taller. Sam Harrison, with all the requisite outrageous costumes (designed by Georgia Lowe) finds the right blend of camp, kindness and pathos in his take on the Dame. Joey James also excels as the very nervous Jack gradually finding the confidence not to depend on his alter ego sock puppet and Sienna Widd’s Jill is delightful as the feisty elder sister – a very far cry from the usual “Silly Billy” brother whipping up the audience into forming gangs. And it’s all supported with some very pleasing ensemble work. In many ways, though, this show belongs to John Partridge who cackles so unpleasantly that he really is foul rather than funny as he lords it over everyone – every word spat out with relish and spiced with some engaging body movement. Why am I not surprised to read that he trained as a dancer, initially at the royal ballet school? The second half of this show is surprisingly dark – shades of both His Dark Materials and the Wizard of Oz. Being “sent to the giant,” as Jill has been, is seriously sinister but no spoilers. Suffice it to say that it makes a subtle but very pertinent political point about education and what, at its worst, it does to young people. It’s fortunate that most of the songs (Corin Buckridge) are rap because the words are inclined to disappear in the more pop-style numbers, partly because the music – well played by a four piece band led by Olivia Zacharia - is often too loud. For myself I really liked this reworking of the panto genre but I suspect it might not do for families looking for the sort of light-hearted seasonal romp they’re used to. The children around me were engaged and willing to yell when required but there wasn’t all that much laughter. JACK AND THE BEANSTALK at Lyric Hammersmith Written by Sonia Jalay Directed by Nicholai La Barrie BOX OFFICE https://lyric.co.uk/shows/jack-and-the-beanstalk-2025/ Photography: Manuel Harlan

‘Italian, clowning and cabaret’ ★★★ There is a lot of talent in this company whose show presents two Italian girls arriving in 1920s New York with Broadway ambitions. What they actually do is to busk outside theatre stage doors There’s no plot as such. They simply perform, argue, support each other, become elated when it goes well, cast down when it doesn’t - and amuse the audience. Because Carlotta (Lucrezia Galeone) and Cecilia (Sarah Silvestri) don’t speak English we hear a great deal of high-octane Italian – and they’re clearly enjoying sending up the innate volubility of both the language and most of its native speakers. I know only “music” Italian mushed in with bits and pieces deduced over the years via French and Latin. Nonetheless Gelone and Silvestri ensure that most of what they say is comprehensible to the audience members like me and that’s quite a skill. Working with three fine musicians on Baron Court’s tiny stage they sing - pretty well – in a range of styles including opera parody. It’s a good idea too to place them (director Molly Rolfe) between the MD on keys (Michele Maria Benvenuto) guitarist (Ben Howarth and percussionist (Tasha Fish) who sit like three points on a triangle. It ensures that the musicians can see each other very clearly so the music is punctiliously precise and when the trio become part of the action it’s seamless. La Bella Bimba! is a 60 minute show which is good fun and quite original but it is, by definition, small scale and fringe so it’s hard to see where its future might lie. LA BELLA BIMBA! by Theatre Gamine Lucrezia Galeone and Virginia Ruspini Barons Court Theatre, part of the Voila Festival Cast & Creatives Director: Molly Rolfe Producer: Elena Rigoni Co-composer and performer: Lucrezia Galeone Sarah Silvestri: Performer Ben Barrow: Co-composer The photographer credit is Isadora Baccon – @bacconfilms

“An expertly crafted, super current panto.” ★★★★ Good panto has to walk the line between wildly fun incoherence, non sequitur and nonsense, and not actually letting it all become pointless, random, and boring. Wicked Witches definitely achieves that. This is an expertly crafted, super current panto that's both steadfastly traditional, with all the great hallmarks of that brilliantly bizarre British classic of theatre, while also being packed full of contemporary references and on-trend punchlines. It's a great celebration of this wonderfully silly tradition that brings out the kid in us all at Christmas. As you’ve probably already guessed, Wicked Witches is a fun and colorful riff on Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. Taking place twenty years after Dorothy’s first expedition to that magical land, a sudden snowstorm blows her back to the borough of Oz‑lington, where a mysterious, bubbly force is threatening its very existence. Reuniting with some familiar faces, the now non-binary Dor embarks on a hilarious adventure through Oz-lington, filled with pop‑song parodies and high‑energy hilarity. While I'm not personally a great fan of pieces that encourage echo-chamber audiences whose self-satisfied jeers and yaaaasses only serve the cult-like meme-ification of the queer experience, I also don't want to over-intellectualise what is essentially a harmless piece of fun. So maybe I just need to lighten up. Either way, a lot of people will enjoy it, and I do actually think the family version will be really great fun for kids (you can choose between an Adults Only performance, which will be perfect for a night out with your mates, or the regular family one, which will be perfect for everyone). Be prepared for a barrage of pop cultural references though that can ironically make you feel a lot like an outsider for a show that preaches unconditional inclusion. You kind of have to enjoy a lot of niche slang, corrupted Polari, and an addiction to the internet. But that said, that didn't stop me from laughing. It is genuinely very funny. I do think overall it suffers from being a bit overly moralistic for a form of entertainment that should be raucous and bawdy. It veers more than once into the political (often rather cleverly, it must be said) and though it mostly avoids smugness and superiority, there's nothing particularly clever or persuasive about preaching to the converted target market. The make-up design by Yong-Chin Breslin and costumes by Isabella Van Braeckel and Cieranne Kennedy-Bell are excellent, suitably campy, and stand-up to any big budget version. The performances, too, are delivered with unrestrained gusto. But a special mention should be given for Gigi Zahir as the Wicked Witch, Adelephaba Dazeem, and Ro Suppa as Dor, both of whom are far and away the most spectacularly hilarious, surprisingly warm, and naturally charismatic. They both stand out for their innate talent for unashamed and unselfconsciously joyful panto play. I'd watch them again in a heartbeat, although it should be said that Eleanor Burke’s skit as the Good Witch about her bubble technology is performed with such mad vitality that it still has me laughing days later. For a real good stocking filler (pun intended – it is panto after all), some well-received pre-recorded cameos from Jeremy Corbyn MP as the Wizard and Sir Ian McKellan as Toto are a great touch of sparkle and a hilarious treat. McKellan in particular is somehow reliably fantastic and fully-committed to the part, even though it must have taken only a matter of minutes to record. At its heart, this genuinely funny and engaging panto does have a consistent and coherent message, unlike most pantos, which are random for random’s sake. So, all things considered, does that mean it’s something pretty special? Oh yes it is! Wicked Witches – A Popular Panto Written & Directed by Shane ShayShay Konno The Pleasance, 21 November – 28 December 2025 Box Office: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/wicked-witches-popular-panto Photography: Emma Carman Dale Review by Alix Owen

"a compelling, atmospheric piece of new writing that examines the darker instincts that lie beneath love" ★★★½ In AN INSTINCT, Hugo Timbrell delivers a tense, unsettling drama that probes the blurry borders between love, obsession, and self-preservation. Tom and Max are former lovers forced back together when a deadly virus prompts them to flee to a remote cabin in the woods. What should be a refuge quickly becomes a pressure cooker. Old wounds resurface, resentments are traded like currency, and the pair soon find themselves dissecting their relationship. When Max’s current boyfriend, Charlie - abandoned mid-crisis - enters the narrative, the emotional terrain grows even more unstable. Timbrell keeps the audience guessing: is the virus real, or has Tom engineered the entire scenario to isolate Max and regain control? Or, in denying the virus exists and trying to win Max back, is Charlie putting all their lives at risk? The ambiguity is gripping. Themes of coercive control, blame, and toxic devotion coil together as the play edges towards a disturbing yet inevitable climax. The production’s slow-burn tension is carefully calibrated. Doubt permeates every interaction: Tom and Charlie’s motives are murky and complex, and Max, buffeted by conflicting loyalties, is pushed to finally make a decision about the future for himself. As suspicion deepens, the question of who is telling the truth and what the consequences might be looms heavily. The staging is understated and effective: a naturalistic country cottage living room complete with log burner, worn sofa, lamp, and scattered creature comforts that contrast sharply with the psychological unease. The design creates a believable, claustrophobic environment in which the characters’ anxieties can fester. Strong sound design and subtle lighting shifts heighten the sense of isolation and entrapment. Timbrell’s dialogue is sharp, often funny, and convincingly overlapping, capturing the rhythms of real conversation even as tensions escalate. These naturalistic exchanges are elevated further by strong performances and clear, assured direction, making AN INSTINCT a compelling, atmospheric piece of new writing that examines the darker instincts that lie beneath love. Croft and Dye Productions presents AN INSTINCT by Hugo Timbrell The Old Red Lion Theatre 18 Nov – 6 Dec Box Office Photography: Craig Fuller

‘Great ambition here’ ★★★ Well, I’m now an expert in cranberry farming and all that it entails thanks to Joe Edgar’s new play which looks at how the media can report, develop and manipulate a story. There is great ambition here - it’s a big tale with big themes and ideas played out in the gloriously compact Jack Studio Theatre and, with some reservations, Edgar strikes the right balance between emotion, fact and humour. The start of the play lost me. Four characters, after hours at the Boston Globe riffing and shouting and over-lapping and throwing stats and detail and facts - too much too fast. Throughout the play the characters very naturally talk over each other, interrupting and ‘sledging’ one another (it is the first day of the Ashes after all) and this works really well once things settle down and the audience can get their collective heads around what is what and who is who. So, plucky young investigative journalist Marianne has returned from deepest Massachusetts where she’s been looking at all aspects of cranberry farming and how / if dark deeds might be afoot. She encounters and interviews multiple characters - deftly managed and played by the rest of the 4-person cast - and gradually uncovers environmental and social shenanigans leading her to question what’s right and what’s not. Some slightly clunky plot devices drive Marianne to make some decisive moves and act in ways which require her editor boss and colleagues to challenge her approach and behaviour. The narrative flips back and forth from the after hours review of the article to key events and meetings ‘in the moment’. This is at times confusing and heavy handed but the cast runs with this well through simple but effective stage management (tables becoming cars etc) and lighting - once again showing how a small space can be wildly transformational. In between times, Marianne is also seen talking to her therapist about her dreams and fears (‘my mother was there of course’ - a great line) and this slightly muddles things as another layer of complication and fact-spouting. As Marianne, Molly Hanley holds the stage really well and if she is at times a little ‘one note’ her ultimate breakdown is genuine and profoundly touching. She is well supported (in multiple roles) by Juliet Welch as her prickly boss, Sydney Crocker as a fellow reporter and especially Xavier Starr in a couple of well rounded roles. This was a case of ‘almost but not quite’ - not enough killer lines, a slightly messy narrative and it all just being a bit much. A more focussed script, some choice editing and a clearer beginning would improve things and then you would have a strong, relevant piece of writing from an exciting new voice. BIG CRANBERRY by Joe Edgar at Jack Studio Theatre 18 – 29 November 2025 presented by Sosij Productions Tuesday 18th – Saturday 29th November at 7.30pm BOX OFFICE https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/big-cranberry/