REVIEW: Conflict of Interest at The Hen & Chickens Theatre 1 - 3 October 2026
'Well-performed pastiche' ★★
The spotlight is on Arthur Carmichael, a suited lawyer, who persuasively talks to the audience about truth, proof and evidence before we see him back in his office with his partner, Mitchell Hargrieve. Keen-to-impress young female intern, Talia Cooper brings a potential new client to the office. Rita Lemkin openly admits to murdering her husband but would like a defence lawyer. Played consistently by Rhian Holmes, Lemkin is set up as the classic film-noir, femme fatale with a mid-west, Southern drawl; she's fully aware of her own sex appeal and female charm. Lemkin brings both the inciting incident and an ethical predicament for the lawyers. Should they take the case on? Lemkin is convinced Carmichael is her man. After all, he did marry his first client, Lucy Carmichael née Balsam (Maeve-Anne Allen) who was acquitted of murdering her abusive, millionaire father.
After a short successful run at Sheffield’s Lantern Theatre, Conflict of Interest, a character-led drama by Righton Productions is having a whirlwind presentation in London. Directed by Jazz Sewsanker and written by Thomas Carruthers, it’s a long piece at 2 hours and 25 minutes with an interval. Carruthers also plays the toxically masculine and arrogant Carmichael, who constantly clashes with his professional partner, Hargrieve, performed with defensive bitterness by William Leggetter. Bespectacled and put-upon, he’s more of a ‘details’ man but also an angry man, recently divorced by his wife. Both male characters are repugnant and attempt to out-vile each other with revolting comments and humiliating put- downs. Who will win this war? A strand of misogyny is explored in Conflict of Interest and depressingly concluded. All the audience's hopes are pinned on Talia the intern, who may be the only honest character in this study of duplicity. Sympathetically played by Amy Cash, she sees most clearly what’s going on but ultimately, she too is shafted by the patriarchy.
The courtroom is arguably one of the first forms of theatre and brings inherent drama to an audience with built in stakes, conflict, protagonists and antagonists. There have been some notable past examples: Witness for the Prosecution, Twelve Angry Men and To Kill a Mockingbird and this play does feel like something of a homage to the past which may account for its confusing time and setting. The staging and delivery give both 1930s Raymond Chandler vibes and 1950s crime classics. It’s only when Alvin & the Chipmunks and fax machines are mentioned, we realise this is the 1980s. (Although a date is scrawled on an ‘evidence board,’ it’s too small to read.) Despite the talent on show, one can’t help feeling this pastiche would be fresher, more authentic and contemporary if had been transposed into current-day Sheffield. It suffers from trying to cram in too much story; a shorter, sharper version would be stronger. The ensemble in this play all do sterling work and impressively embody their roles, but as a piece of dramatic writing, it’s unfocused with too much going on and too many points of view.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST by Righton Productions
at The Hen and Chickens Theatre
1 - 3 October 2026
