DOUGHNUT DRIVE review at Drayton Arms 25 - 29 November 2025
‘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
Cast Sarah Parkins & Finella Waddilove
Writer/Director Finella Waddilove
Producer Rachel Duncan
Assistant Producer George Bird
Composer/Lighting Designer/Technician Cameron Pike
