BADGERS CAN’T BE FRIENDS By Joe Skelton / Playmill Festival at King’s Head Theatre 19 – 21 July 2021

‘A riveting play with relentless energy ... very very funny’ ★★★★★

BADGERS CAN’T BE FRIENDS is a comedy which has urgent things to say, with several complex ideas, all packed into just one hour of entertainment.

The play opens with Ben (Jack Gray) and his girlfriend (Kamilah Shorey) trying not to discuss their day. It’s Friday Funday and they should be having a romantic evening (maybe even sex), but something is bothering each of them. Katy has found she’s no longer top on the leader board at work and Ben has been reprimanded by the head teacher telling him that he cannot befriend Juliusz, an autistic boy in his class, because he has to be the boy’s teacher and not his Ninja battle opponent.

When the boy’s mother (Magdalena Jasiniak) turns up, Ben is terrified she’s come to complain but she’s actually there to thank him for helping her son. Ben (who nearly went into performing arts instead of teaching) decides to have it all out on social media. His resulting moments of fame begin to turn his head from campaigner to self-serving idiot.

The show leads to a lot of questions about how much we are pushing our kids and what sort of adults they are going to grow into (manifested during the show). For example, SATS used to be aimed at raising the standards in schools but now it’s aimed at the pupils. 

The brilliance of the play is in its ability to make these serious points whilst continuing flawlessly with the comedy. All kudos to the writer but also to the director (Hamish Clayton) and the three actors for pulling it off.  It is a riveting play with relentless energy.

Jack Gray as Ben is the comedian, playing the fool for his social media videos, with brilliant physical theatre, eating disgusting food and literally jumping through hoops.  He is also heart-breakingly lovely as the caring teacher who is sickened to see his young pupils being put under too much pressure. Learning should be fun not agony.   Kamilah Shorey as the girlfriend and Magdalena Jasiniak as the mother are the more serious side-kicks who each also have excellent speeches of their own to deliver.

Finally, praise should be given to the lighting and sound design which helped to create some of the most memorable moments, Ben being put in the spotlight as he re-discovers himself as a performer, and the voice over (from a mobile phone) in which his last and most horrific TV interview is being broadcast far and wide. Ben’s inevitable downfall is horrible to watch but it is also very very funny. 

BADGERS CAN’T BE FRIENDS By Joe Skelton

Playmill Festival at King’s Head Theatre

Kings Head Theatre, Upper St, Islington

19 – 21 July 2021 at 8.45pm

Box Office https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/playmill-badgers-cant-be-friends

WHAT’S ON AT KING’S HEAD THEATRE

CAST:

Ben - Jack Gray

Katy - Kamilah Shorey

Anna - Magdalena Jasiniak

TEAM:

Writer - Joe Skelton (Fat Jewels, The Noctambulist, The Druid's Horse)

Director - Hamish Clayton (Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, The Problem with Fletcher Mott)

Assistant Director - Catherine Cranfield

Lighting Designer - Anthony Englezou

Sound Designer- Nye Roberts

Designer - Oliver Kariel

10% of profits from Badgers Can't Be Friends go to Education Support (the UK's only dedicated charity for the education workforce), with a limited number of half-price tickets for educators at each performance.

Reviewer: Heather Jeffery is Editor of London Pub Theatres Magazine