REVIEW: CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT at Southwark Playhouse 11 March – 4 April 2026
‘Thoroughly excellent show – high energy, great story telling, convincing character arcs’ ★★★★
Lindsay is a fifteen year old with two passions – bass heavy House music and the secret beauty of the city of Doncaster, the Las Vegas of Yorkshire. Her dad was a raver in his day and thinks Lindsay’s nocturnal adventures with her best mate Jen are great evidence of his daughter’s awesomeness, and requires closing a parental eye to clubby drug consumption and casual sex.
The story of Lindsay and Jen growing up, getting hurt, falling apart, making up, is told with frenetic energy, forensic observation, and pawky humour by Danielle Phillips, who wrote the play and acts the part of Lindsay. The set is a multi-level playground festooned with snaking day-glo disco lights and pulses with the music at the same time as becoming the twisting streets and chip shops of downtown Doncaster, and does it extremely well – the movement is compelling and compulsive, Danielle Phillips and Charlotte Brown (as Jen) are convincingly making long walks and desperate taxi rides in a very tight space. The designer Hannah Sibai deserves high praise for providing such an effective context for the non-stop action.
This is a thoroughly excellent show – high energy, great story telling, convincing character arcs. It even makes a reviewer from Hull reconsider the wonders of Doncaster.
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
Southwark Playhouse
11 March – 4 April 2026
Written by Danielle Phillips
Directed by Kimberley Sykes
CAST: Danielle Phillips as Lindsay, Charlotte Brown as Jen, Gareth Radcliffe as Terry, Luke Broughton as Voice of DJ Don
Producer: Lauren Yvonne Townsend
Set and Costume Designer: Hannah Sibai
Sound Designer and Composer: Ben mcQuigg
Lighting Designer: Jessie Addinall
Movement Director: Jennifer Kay
Photography credit: Marc Brenner
