Reviews

'Radical. Raucous. Relevant.' ★★★★ When was the last time you were hungry? Not hungry for love or attention, but hungry for food. And not just peckish but proper hungry, with no food in the cupboards and nothing to eat? According to Ugly Bucket, a physical theater and clowning company, and Winner of The Stage Fringe Five at the Edinburgh Festival, 2024, 11 million people in the UK cannot be sure where their next meal will come from, hence the exponential rise in food banks over the last two decades. The fact that the UK, one of the richest countries in the world, has a significant chunk of its population subsisting on food banks—including many workers and young professionals—and that hunger is no longer a subject for international appeals but one of national shame, might not seem an easy fit for a quintet of Liverpool-based clowns. But it has inspired STUFFED, a one hour show, billed as a ‘blazing inferno’ of physicality, electronica and personal testimonies. STUFFED may tackle poverty and hunger but it does so through the universal language of laughter, satire and absurdity. It bridges the UK's hunger epidemic with the irresistible allure of silly faces, choreographed movement and bizarre scenarios all rooted in the truth of real experience. Complete with a dramatic soundtrack, created live on stage, this is primarily a piece of rip-roaring theatre: loud, funny and well-crafted; not preachy but passionate, not sanctimonious but savage. Led by Rachael Smart and Grace Gallagher, also one of the five piece ensemble, the basis of the piece is testimonies from food bank volunteers. The company worked with thirteen community partners and extracted passages of spoken material lip synched by the performers. Think Nick Park’s Creature Comforts. Words such as “working in a food bank is like putting out fires” provide the creative stimulus for the whacky, physical interpretations that span fire-fighting or scrapping over crumbs. A female contestant on Budget Better, a dystopian quiz show, takes out a payday loan to take her kids to a theme park. Her zero hours contracts mean she must constantly choose. Should she fix her boiler or get her teeth fixed? Should she heat or eat? Hunger, described by one volunteer, as a ‘type of evisceration’ becomes a visual metaphor while dumb politicians make the right noises but provide no solutions. In many ways, it says more than any manifesto and in its own unique way, is as effective a creative output as a Ken Loach docu-drama. Ugly Bucket aren’t just compassionate but incensed. Food banks haven’t just appeared by chance but are the direct result of political decision-making and this show is a call to action. It’s not just about transmitting the message through the stealth of laughter, but also encouraging us to help our hungry neighbours. This three course theatrical experience starts with a community meal included in the ticket price and finishes with a panel discussion. A leaflet distributed post show explains the many ways we can get involved. Both radical and relevant, STUFFED both entertains and provides plenty of food for thought. BOX OFFICE Creative Team Director & Community Producer - Grace Gallagher Director & Stage Manager - Rachael Smart Community Producer - Angelina Moana Set & Costume Design - Sascha Gilmour Music & Sound Design - Duncan Gallagher Lighting Designer - Charly Dunford Production Assistant & Relighter (New Diorama Run) - Stuart Comley Sign Supported English Director - Rhiannon May Caption Operator (New Diorama Run) - Nina Schlautmann Ensemble Jessica Huckerby Grace Gallagher Angelina Moana Adam Nicholls Caníce Ward

'a valuable introduction to the scope and brilliance of Orwell’s writing' ★★★★ Lights come up on an artfully cluttered stage, plausibly dated ‘40s kitchen chairs, a beaten up table with a typewriter, a hospital bed with a patient sucking oxygen through a mask. This is the introduction to Mark Stratford’s one man show, that leads us through key texts from the lifetime work of George Orwell. Defaulting to pyjamas and a dressing gown, Stratford animates the writing, shares an amused self-deprecating intimacy with the audience, uses the stage subtly – there’s no extravagance on show, there’s a profoundly polite, very reserved demonstration of extraordinary courage and commitment. The writer sought out extreme squalor and mortal danger because he wanted to report to the world about those things, because the world refused to notice them. The actor makes the writing dynamic and forceful, but above all he makes it true. It’s a delicate, nuanced performance that defers to the importance of the writing and makes it accessible. Guy Smith has adapted the key texts with care and precision, so the necessarily brief visits to The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia catch the essence of the socially committed writing, and the dramatisation of Animal Farm and 1984 are extremely well-wrought. The production also benefits from a well-chosen soundscape, and subtle but beautifully managed lighting effects. The tech is never flashy or intrusive, but serves to point up key moments, like Orwell’s near-fatal injury during the Spanish Civil War. This is a valuable introduction to the scope and brilliance of Orwell’s writing, a handy guide to his biography, and a thoroughly immersive experience in the theatre. It is an extremely worthwhile piece of theatre – well written, well designed, and subtly and beautifully acted. ORWELL: The Road to 1984, by Guy Smith and presented by Stratford Productions, at the Jack Studio Theatre 6 – 10 October 2026 and on tour Directed by Guy Smith Sound Design by Chloe Park Lighting and Sound Technician: James Connor Presented by Stratford Productions Cast: Mark Stratford Photo credit: Cat Cross Photography.

‘Serious theatre, well researched, beautifully performed and choreographed. ’ ★★★★ It could be argued that a play about the persecution of Jews is topical right now, but, then, and depressingly, when has a play about the persecution of Jews ever not been topical? Hannah Arendt was a German philosopher, most famous now for coining the phrase ‘the banality of evil’ to describe Adolf Eichmann, an architect of Hitler’s ‘final solution’. She was, of course, Jewish, too. She was also, Julia Pascal’s piece tells us, one of many women held at the Gurs internment camp in Vichy France in 1940, later escaping to the USA where she became established as a pre-eminent writer and thinker on, among much else, totalitarianism. Pascal’s well-researched performance piece finds three young Jewish women taken from their comfortable, cultured lives in Paris to the internment camp in ‘free’ France, where, with nearly 60 more in their hut and hundreds more in their camp, they will starve, live among rats and lice, defecate in the open and in public and much more. Pascal has the insight to see that it is not only their previous luxury that they miss – for one, Eva Daube (Ariella Barnett), for example, the remembrance of a sliver of unsalted butter on fresh bread is the once quotidian commonplace that has become an unattainable indulgence. Hannah (Mai Weisz), older, sterner, educated, and sexually experienced enough to have had an affair with her now dubiously Nazi professor, is a strong figure in this camp. Eva, barely out of school, remains idealistic, a communist as well as a Jew, a fighter. Charlotte (Anna Eckhard), an artist, struggles more to survive this appalling, apparently endless new world in which they are imprisoned and degraded for nothing more than who they are. Dramatists are continually injuncted to find light in darkness, a task perhaps harder in the context of Europe 1940 than in most circumstances, and a task perhaps impossible in the context of Europe’s Jews. Pascal has chosen a fractured structure to provide 20-odd snapshot scenes of the horror, with each scene number announced and location/situation told to the audience. This choice of Brechtian distantiation, telling the audience what they are about to see, prompting them to consider the what and why of the events being portrayed as well as the performances and other theatrical contrivances, adds to the seriousness of what is in many ways as much a presentation as a traditionally dramatic performance. This is not to say there is no joy to be found – the whirling dance and song with which the principal trio (Hannah, Eva and Charlotte) open the performance before they are placed on a bus to the south of France, for example, and several moving songs from the imprisoned women. It does mean that scenes are largely descriptive – we hear what characters say to survive from moment to moment, see what happens to them, but gain little of their interior lives, including that of the title character. Pascal trusts her audience to come armed with pre-knowledge of who Hannah was and why she matters, and for that matter, of who, for example, Heidegger or Eichmann were, or the distinction between Vichy France and Nazi Europe. The detail of the performance lies, therefore, in the experience of these three women, and of representatives of millions more. One such is Agathe (Helen Goldwyn), an older doctor and voice of sense and calm authority, whom the pervasive dysentery or another sickness will claim before liberation or escape. Another actor, Anja Fahlenkamp (also responsible for excellent musical composition and arrangement) is listed as ‘Ensemble’ and, on being asked on arrival at the camp for her name, lists, and represents, many; not all stories can be told.  The performance comes closest to standard drama in a series of scenes involving a fifth named woman, Trude (Pat Dynowska), a thief and a former prostitute, whose ‘trial’ when she is caught stealing some bread from a fellow inmate is the most personally emotionally charged sequence. There is, regrettably, one small mis-step in the finale when Hannah, reunited in America after the war with Eva, recalls that they were three and asks what happened to Charlotte. ‘Gassed’, Eva replies, and we are sickened by the knowledge. But we hear nothing more of the fate of poor, lower-class, uncultured and uneducated Trude. This is serious theatre, well researched, beautifully performed and choreographed, re-telling an aspect of a story that has been told many times in many ways since the 1940s. It strikes, perhaps as a result of its alienating theatrical structure, more at the intellect than the emotions. Yet that is, imaginably, no bad thing when the world around us repeatedly suggests that the tale can never be told so frequently or so well that its lessons will be universally learned and acted upon. Arcola Theatre and Pascal Theatre present: THE BANALITY OF EVIL: HANNAH ARENDT, FRANCE, 1940 by Julia Pascal at the Arcola Theatre 8 October to 7 November 2026 Box Office: https://www.arcolatheatre.com/event/the-banality-of-evil/ Cast Ariella Barnett | Eva Pat Dynowska | Trude Anna Eckhard | Charlotte Anja Fahlenkamp | Ensemble Helen Goldwyn | Agathe Mai Weisz | Hannah Creative Team Julia Pascal | Writer and Director Carmen Neat | Set Designer and Costume Assistant Tony Simpson | Lighting Designer Anja Fahlenkamp | Musical Composition and Arrangement Andrius Maksimavicius | Assistant Director Naomi Shanson | Stage Manager (on book) Poppy Stewart | Stage Managent placement/Assistant Stage Manager Photography by Alex Brenner 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).

"I can't fault the ambition and the concept, both of which work as ideas in principle." The Dirty Thirty is a cross between experimental theatre, an improv sketch show (though call it that at your peril), and a weekend drama club. The premise is compelling though – the company will attempt to perform 30 original plays in 60 minutes. It's sort of Sh*tfaced Shakespeare meets other condensed parody formats. The problem is that they're not plays – they're sketches at most, but mostly random scenes, performance art, or just seeds of ideas. In theory, the audience shouts out any number between 1-30 and the ensemble will perform it. They'll do this by turning theatre inside out in a promisingly absurdist and abstract way, revealing the inner workings of the show from the script to the thoughts of the actors as they run about preparing for each piece. In this way, the show is very consciously Neo-Futurist (the 80s movement of non-illusory, lo-fi messiness), maybe overly so. The concept is intriguing, but it's constantly working against itself: the plays don't really work in any order, the scene changes are too OTT, and the plays aren't plays. One of the sketches – which seems to condescend the audience by explaining that this is what most people imagine by "thirty plays" – actually IS a play, featuring a warring couple at a dinner table. It’s ironically one of the best moments – though I suppose it's supposed to highlight how boring and traditional it is. It generally works as a piece of flash fiction, with a nice funny punchline. However, I can't tell whether the moment is supposed to be self-deprecating towards the company, for not making more of these, or chastising towards the audience, for thinking this is what the show should be. There's also a fun and relatable skit about a breakdown at a self-checkout, told quite creatively using the robotic phrases we all know so well from totting up our purchases. But these moments are vanishingly rare, often damaged by the distracting chaos either side of them. Most of the pieces come across more like a very long in-joke: how it feels to take a play to the Edinburgh Fringe, how it feels to audition... Unless you're catering to friends and family, your general audience isn't going to care or relate. The company also wants to assure us in one of the pieces that this show isn't improv. Though I liked the meta-skit of showing the audience the script in real time as they did this, it doesn't land for me. It isn't written or performed well enough to be convincing and comes across like further lecturing of the audience. But there's a bigger creative disconnect. If this isn't improv, then the scene changes need to be tightened up and rely less on...improv. You can keep the chaos and authenticity, but have it tight and controlled and refined for maximum impact. It doesn't work to have it both ways. Now, if I'm completely wrong and these bits ARE all scripted as well, then the point still stands – it needs some refinement, Neo-Futurist or not. Ultimately, I think what this piece needs to be is straight-up comedy (as it's kind of billed), but what it wants to be is profound. Too much abstraction, too much on-the-nose social commentary. For me, it could be both funny and insightful if given a chance, but it's undermined by a determination for high-concept and a creative but ineffective structure. I have no issue with unconventional or experimental, or neo-futurism, and in that way I can't fault the ambition and the concept, both of which work as ideas in principle: neo-futurist ultra-realism and thirty abstract micro-plays. The element of authentic and ever-changing challenge is fun too and the performers do have charm, though some lacking a bit in confidence. If these were thirty very funny, very clever, fully-formed sketches, with shorter intervals between them, then I think there could be something special here. But it pains me to say that they're not really any of those things just yet. At the moment it comes across a bit more like watching a GCSE drama class write their final year piece in real time. Nevertheless, it is of course entirely subjective; and with The Dirty Thirty's changing cast and content, the beauty is that every performance is different. You might get something excellent. It's just that, on this occasion, my night was more of the Not Great Twenty-Eight. The Dirty Thirty Created and performed by Degenerate Fox UK The Rosemary Branch Theatre, 11 September – 31 October 2026 Box Office: https://www.rosemarybranchtheatre.co.uk/show/the-dirty-thirty-124 Photography credit: Wesley Anthony Reviewed by Alix Owen Alix Owen is a Pushcart Prize nominated writer from Wales. His work has appeared at the Liars’ League, the Camden Fringe, and in print and digital anthologies internationally.

 ‘The Girl in The Mask has plenty going for it but needs a rethink.’ ★★ ½ It's not always easy getting on with your parents when you're an angsty teenager left with no other victims for all that pent up rage. Most of us grow out of it but in some situations – often exacerbated by a difficult parental figure – a nasty split can grow between parent and child. Welcome, The Girl in The Mask to the Kennington pub stage where we witness how a daughter posting about her ‘abusive’ mother on social media whilst wearing a mask tears the whole family apart. It could have been an excellent tragicomedy. Despite a dreary start with Celia (Laura Fitzpatric) shedding tears over her husband’s coffin, daughter Amy/Eddie (Emma Riches) switches on the play’s comic beats with her Iron Maiden album turned all the way in the adjacent bedroom. Amy finally enters and almost moping, asks if she can get inside the coffin whilst reminding her mother that before it was closed she dolled her father up in make-up. At its best, Brad Sutherland script fizzles with such black comedy, witty puns which punctuate the emotional disputes between the family nicely. Yet, this near two hour long play drags in all the wrong places. By half way through the same (albeit escalating) arguments between mother and daughter had become tedious. Amy – who then renames herself Eddie after donning the mask and finally estranging herself from her mother – hangs around moping on the stage with little revealed about her inner workings. Even soppy and head-constantly-in-hands boyfriend Kieran (Edward Jobling) can’t tease a different flavour of character out of Amy’s continual temper tantrum. We learn later of Amy’s possible autism which provides the only explanation for the way that she acts, which is the point of the play. Star-of-the-show is Aunty Jo (Samantha Parry) who is averse to physical touch, unable to hold eye contact and instead, bakes everyone cakes as the most well rendered character out of the whole lot. Parry performs her part with a cool ease dipping lightly into her past to reveal how she has struggled socially all her life. But the family scenes went round in loops despite her often ability to create comedy out of thin air. The Girl in The Mask has plenty going for it but needs a rethink. It is too long to begin with, and the direction needs to manage the script better with tighter interactions between characters. It is with the times, describing the dangers of our media landscape to a T but it certainly needs more oomph. The Girl in The Mask by Brad Sutherland at The White Bear Theatre 6 – 17 October 2026 BOX OFFICE https://www.whitebeartheatre.co.uk/whatson/the-girl-in-the-mask Photography by Paddy Gormley

“An enjoyable one act play with an array of talent, wit and creativity to entertain throughout.” ★★★ ½ The religious impact of the Battle of Hastings, while an unlikely setting for theatrical comedy, serves as an entertaining backdrop to a performance which is brought to life by a very talented group of actors. The play is promoted with the tagline “Horrible Histories meets The Office politics” and there are definite vibes of both these cultural outputs albeit without the same consistency from start to finish. The play opens with some mild audience interaction with everyone assuming a role of congregant in a church alongside Joan (Julie Joubert) and Stephen (Charlie James-Howard). Theodore, played by George MacGowan, and Nicolas, Xavier Atkins, then conduct a religious ceremony in Latin. It’s a neat and innovative touch to both quickly engage the audience in the story as well as define the dynamics of these four characters. However, the story then takes some time to find a rhythm. The first minutes thereafter are spent discussing the plotting of a riot against the church with some pacy dialogue which, despite being delivered impeccably, did little to add anything to the characters in those initial innings. The introduction of Alastair, the French dignitary to whom Theodore and Nicholas report, also felt like an unnecessary appearance, compounded by the dual role taken on by Joulbert. Thankfully, the emergence of Asa, played by Lily Blunson, ignites some real conflict into the story. Her need to find the legal documents to secure the dwellings she received in her divorce settlement, Theodore’s unrequited interest and Joan’s desire to perform an agreed morality play in the form of a nativity create some compelling and humorous moments. The nativity alone could have served as a standalone micro play and it’s actually unfortunate that we don’t get to enjoy this scene for an extended period. While the final act neatly ties together some of the plot lines, it does all feel a little convenient and rushed, especially after such an engaging middle section. Ultimately, it kills off the momentum that it did so well to build and, although we are left with a satisfying ending to an amusing tale, there’s a slight disappointment in a ‘what could have been’ sort of way. While the energy and focus of the play is choppy in that respect, the same cannot be said of the acting which is stellar throughout. Particular mentions go out to MacGowan and Atkins who steal every scene they are in, but the whole cast should take credit for an ensemble performance that doesn’t dip at any point. God Save Us! is an enjoyable one act play that showcases an array of talent and has enough wit and creativity to keep you entertained throughout, despite its most enjoyable moments being sandwiched by an opening and closing that could be a little more defined. Part of Proforca Theatre Company's Here | For season of plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre Theodore: George MacGowan Nicholas: Xavier Atkins Joan/Alastair: Julie Joubert Stephen: Charlie James-Howard Asa: Lily Blunsom Writer/Director: Esalan Gates Photography Ross Kernahan

‘Gripping, like watching a runaway train closing in.’ ★★★★ New theatre company Fright Train bring a large cast production of Ödön von Horváth’s JUDGMENT DAY to the tiny space at Old Red Lion Playhouse. This revival, translated by Christopher Hampton, in some ways resembles a series of trials for a community and the judgement of individuals from within. The set up reveals the protagonist Thomas Hudetz, the railway signalman, to be diligent in his work, without ever having made a single mistake. Whilst everyone has nothing but praise for him, the villagers have much to say about his wife, who is some years older than him and whom they dislike. The local publican’s teenage daughter has a crush on him, but he does not reciprocate her affections. It all feeds into the ever- tightening grip of this close-knit community. After a train derails and kills several people, the public prosecutor is tasked with finding out who is responsible. One of the strengths of the play is that the audience already knows exactly what happened and this dramatic irony provides fascinating theatre. In the first act the villagers’ prejudices swing one way and then in the second they have arbitrarily changed sides, with some notable exceptions of upstanding citizens, one in particular who upholds his principals over loyalty. It’s a good cross section of society and, to the credit of the company, the cast also offers a good representation. The cast is a little uneven in acting skills but they work well as an ensemble and the stage positioning has been exceedingly well worked out by the director. It looks good. this is important because the staging is minimal. Added to the pleasing montages of villagers, the play feels very immersive thanks to an exceptional sound design. Those trains really sound as though they’re passing in front of the audience and behind them. In this expressionistic play the fete of the Signalman is decided by others, and he is powerless to escape the final reckoning. Each scene notches up another nail in his coffin, he is on an hellish journey of no return. Unfairly judged and condemned. Written in 1937 as Nazism was gaining ground, Ödön von Horváth play warns of the dangers of herd mentality. He was forced into exile for his anti-fascist writing and activism. These are reasons enough to revive the play. Added to this, new company Fright Train, was founded by the director Matilda Ziegler who is revisiting this play after 37 years, having played Anna in Stephen Daldry’s award-winning UK premiere of Judgment Day in 1989 at the Old Red Lion. Her daughter Faye Ziegler, a recent graduate of Oxford School of Drama, joins the cast to take on the same role. Ziegler does well, a worthy performance, and she is joined by her mother, Matilda Ziegler, in a well observed character performance as the village gossip Frau Leimgruber. Several other performances also catch the eye including a scene stealing performance from experienced actor Michael Higgs as the Landlord, and newly graduated Beyagy Demba in supporting roles. Also a mention to Craig Hamilton as the Signalman for his portrayal of the handsome silent man, being targeted by the community. Finally, also a mention to Lewis Blomfield, as the policeman, who brings a little light relief and sense of bonhomie in the midst of this rather sinister play. Fright Train present JUDGMENT DAY Written by Ödön von Horváth Translated by Christopher Hampton Old Red Lion Playhouse BOX OFFICE https://weareoldred.co.uk/whats-on/judgment-day/ Cast list: Thomas Hudetz: Craig Hamilton Anna: Faye Ziegler Frau Hudetz: Agni Scott Alfons: Alfie Webster Landlord: Michael Higgs Leni: Adrian Greensmith Ferdinand: Florian Saturley Kohut/Severe Angel: Rafaela Nicolay Detective/Customer/Pokorny: Patrick O’Leary Policeman: Lewis Blomfield Travelling Salesman: Henry Alexander Bryan Woodsman/Platelayer: Beyagy Demba Public Prosecutor: Michael Palmer Frau Leimgruber: Matilda Ziegler Director: Matilda Ziegler Set Design: Lily Booth Live Musician: Harry Fisher Score, Composer and Sound Designer: Evie Hilyer-Ziegler Press Officer: Alice Rickett Fight Director: Nathan Flowers & Theo Brignall Intimacy Coordinator: Ros Philips Lighting: Felix Gibbons On-Set Painting: Bobbie Wilson Photography: Alex Storey

“Interesting concept, but Mara falls into the trap of becoming repetitive.” ★★ MARA, written by Dr Erini Konstantinidou and Robin King and directed by Konstantinidou, is a psychological thriller following the story of a woman becoming trapped in the basement of an office building, running out of time to make the final custody hearing for her eight-year-old daughter. As she remains there, panicking and alone, she is faced with visions, memories and fears from her past that cause her to make regretful decisions with potentially life-changing consequences. Although an incredibly interesting concept, MARA falls into the trap of becoming repetitive and it is underdeveloped in its portrayal of her character. Konstantinidou and King presented Mara, played convincingly by Angela Peters, at a heightened state of panic from the very beginning of the play, leaving the story and Peters in a difficult position to build from. As a character her emotions are understandable, she is in a moment of great pressure as not getting out of this basement could mean losing custody of her daughter, a nightmare situation for any parent. Presenting a character’s psychological state on stage is a very difficult task and a one woman show allows the audience to completely connect with Mara’s personality and through telling her own story, creates a brilliant opportunity to make us empathise with her and give those critical moments even more depth. However, the play and direction focussed more on circling Mara’s emotional state than presenting the narrative, leading the 60-minute piece to feel much longer as we watched Peters scream and breakdown a number of times, with the repetition taking weight away from each of those scenes and leaving me unclear on elements of the story in between. Peters’ portrayal of MARA as a woman on the very edge was believable and invested. This is a challenging play to perform for one person, but Peters maintained stamina and consistency throughout. There were times where Peters could have had more clarity and projection on stage, some lines were swallowed by the soundscape or lost within her panicked state making it difficult for us to connect with what she was saying. Her strongest moments came as she multi-rolled and embodied other people in the story, particularly the pregnant and judgmental friend she meets at the very beginning who is picking other women apart for not wanting children. She has a comedic, posh, almost whining tone as she tells her children off in front of Mara, creating a mother I’m sure many audience members and parents would recognise from the school gates. Having different characters gave the play interesting changes in pace and energy and I wish we could have seen more of this variation throughout the performance. The use of set, atmospheric sound design by Lefteris Douros and claustrophobic lighting design by Matty Arakcheev build the isolation of this play well. In particular, the lighting design helped to differentiate between when Mara was speaking to the audience, trapping her in a cold spotlight, and when she was in the basement alone. The mix of naturalistic sound effects, underscored with increasingly tense wider sound made it feel as though something was closing in on Mara. Bringing the inside of her head into view on stage. The direction of this play can develop to add further layers to the world the production design has clearly and cleverly begun to create. MARA is a concept with great potential, focussing on a subject that many would find interesting to explore, with a clever design and moments of performance having the seeds of an isolating and intriguing production. But ultimately the script falls into emotion over story leaving the audience with little to grasp on to. A clearer focus on communicating and developing the narrative to have more variation could match up to the atmosphere they are beginning to create.

‘An adaptation with strong creative lineage drowning under its own weight’ ★★ “Full fathom five thy father lies, Of his bones are coral made…,” sings Ariel to Prince Ferdinand in The Tempest. Imogen Usherwood, last year's Peter Shaffer Playwright-in Residence (Trinity College, Cambridge) imagines a folk-horror interpretation of Shakespeare’s most magical work in modern-day East Anglia. Widely believed to be the Bard’s final work, Usherwood adapts The Tempest into a murky thriller about rural secrecy, but despite its strong creative lineage ultimately fails to escape its exposition. Instantly dropped into a nightmare situation, Finn (Ben Smart), wakes up house-bound after an accident deep in the marshland. We meet the house's occupants later: Peter (Philip Jennings), the father, a biologist; Martha (Helena Baker), the daughter, who spends most of her time sat by the marsh, and Abigail (Rebecca Eden) – a straight laced maid of sorts. In Usherwood’s interpretation of Shakespeare, Prospero becomes Peter, controlling magic that can contain people in the bog around his home. At the same time, he maintains strict control of his daughter (Martha, or Miranda) and eventually forces her into a situation against her will. Abigail gives foreboding warnings and signals to Finn, in the same kind of sing-song way which Ariel does to Ferdinand. Fathom succeeds best in creating an atmosphere through lighting and sound. The set creates an underwater feeling that gives the impression of being submerged in a marsh. The un-personified bog, Colin (presumably Caliban), is reflected excellently in the sceneography. The thematic structure of physical preservation and memory also has real poetic potential. Unfortunately, the play doesn’t come together and cannot keep up with the poetic adaptation. It suffers from being an all-saying play; rather than driving a story forwards with active conflict or action, the narrative unfolds through revelations alone in bloated monologues. Usherwood’s dialogue in key scenes feels under-refined and unintimate – especially noticeable in emotional scenes, for example, when Finn learns more about his father. The dynamic between Finn and Martha remains a repetitive loop of mutual apologies rather than dramatic progression and ends by partially mirroring the fates of some of Shakespeare’s characters but with a lack of Reasoning. The plot's logic relies on characters suddenly possessing knowledge that hasn’t come as a result of any action and is therefore unearned, causing the tension of the play to collapse. The plot reads far more like a compelling short story than a piece written for the stage. Again, the poetic potential of this story is strong and contains promise; I would love to see a version of this with more individual character styles and with appropriate tailoring to a modern setting. In this instance, however, this play ultimately drowns under its own weight. Photography: Imogen Usherwood Cast: Ben Smart Philip Jennings Helena Baker Rebecca Eden Creatives: Imogen Usherwood (Writer) Gina Stock (Director) Marianne Nossair (Assistant Director) Tilly Jackson-Long (Lighting Designer)