Review: Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story at the Jack Studio Theatre 21 - 25 April 2026
'there is real promise here' ★★★
If feels that the Wild West is having a bit of a moment in theatre land with recent shows including Bonnie & Clyde and High Noon exemplifying the rich tapestry of storytelling around the genre.
Newcomers Dylan Kaeuper and William Grice - friends since childhood - have jumped on this veritable (paint your) bandwagon but with a distinctive twist. In seeking to create something innocent and childlike, and then show the harder truths of friendship and of ‘being men’ they have undoubtedly under delivered and over stretched - but there is real promise here.
Starring as well as writing, Kaueper as Cody and Grice as Beau, are young men dreaming of Billy The Kid and playing cowboys in their rooms. The lines between childish fantasy and life’s harsher realities are immediately blurred as are the spaces between audience and performers. So, its 1889 and these young boys decide to take the plunge, leave their toy box of miniature cowboys behind, and set out into the big wide world across the desert to find the aforementioned Billy The Kid. The old adage of ‘not wanting to meet your heroes’ is set aside and over a quick fire hour the lads experience faith, happiness and trauma in a raft of short set pieces which range from the melancholy to ‘all out yee-haw action’. Where does this lead? Well, to an ending that is sad and poetic.
In truth, the middle section is overly meandering and messy. The pace drops, accents slip. I never felt that the piece knew what it wanted to really say or, maybe, it did but just slightly fails to do so. Both actors work hard to convey emotion but this supplants plot and, alas, fundamental storytelling. The well scripted denouement - which should move the audience - still left me cold. If you’re going to show a journey across a tight hour, make every moment count and have a point to each section.
But, look, let’s more helpfully and correctly focus on the big positives - the biggest of which is a big dollop of potential. Dylan and William have a real ease with one another - they are now both studying at Edinburgh university and this show was well received at the festival - and with their audience. They both have the physicality and sprightliness of youth (damn them!) and are clearly full of ideas. They don’t need my advice but I would continue to mould and nail down the detail of Cody & Beau, but also generate further ideas for shows as I suspect it will be their third or fourth play that will really hit home - I hope so. I’d also advise them to work the marvellous pub theatre world - of course the Jack Studio Theatre under the superb tutelage of Kate and Karl is a great start.
So - 2.5 stars for the show, a further half star for what might be there and every good wish to these new bright stars in a big old sky.
Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story
written and presented by
Dylan Kaeuper and William Grice
