REVIEW: He Said/She Said at White Bear Theatre 21 April – 2 May 2026
‘compelling storytelling’ ★★★★
What leads a person to commit an act of violence? That is the central question posed by He Said/She Said, a composite of two pieces: Misconduct, by Dom Riley and Ladkiller by Madeline Goud.
Misconduct begins in a police cell, with roguish young football fan Richie recounting the events that led him there. In his cocksure yet endearing manner, he describes setting off on a train journey to an away day with his friends, full to the brim of high hopes and supermarket spirits. However, the boys’ japes soon land them in trouble, and a dark cloud starts to loom over the once-playful mood of the day. What follows is a boisterous exploration of fan loyalty, male bravado, and a thirst for chaos that eventually devolves into devastation. We also see the effects of a slow dissipation of friendship, as life priorities shift and milestones are reached at varying points for different members of the group. Gwithian Evans is the only performer in this piece, embodying the different personas in the story with ease, and sustaining a raucous energy that never falters throughout. Although the instantly recognisable archetypes in the piece provide plenty of comedy through their relatability, sometimes it feels as though the stereotypes are a little too heavy handed, and it would have been interesting to get a deeper insight into the characters in order to further explore their strained dynamic. However, this does not detract from the overarching success of the performance, which perfectly toes the line between humour and gravity.
In the second instalment, Ladykiller, the audience is immediately catapulted into the world of a chambermaid who is quite literally still reeling from stabbing a guest at the hotel where she works. Bloody and trembling, she recounts the moments leading up to the brutal attack. This soon transforms into an impassioned diatribe about all that vexes her, from the frustration at the larger social systems governing her life circumstances, to the dull minutiae of minimum wage work. As she ricochets between these topics, it’s not always easy to follow her train of thought, and sometimes the point she’s making becomes a little clouded. However, these moments are only fleeting within the overall pace of the performance, which is delivered with thrillingly dark intensity by Geebs Marie Williams. Like Evans, she carries the piece solo, but we witness brief flashes of other characters in her life to illustrate what led her to such an extreme act. No detail is spared in this grizzly, gruesome confessional and although undoubtedly a sadist, the character is incredibly captivating, witty and has the audience in her thrall the entire time.
The set is incredibly sparse, with only an outline of what resembles a serrated blade looming ominously in the background, allowing the audience’s imagination to do most of the work. Lighting is used to masterful effect, emphasising the glistening eyes of the performers, and perfectly conveying both the slow creep of dread and the red-hot bloody panic that both characters experience.
The two pieces were not originally written to accompany each other. Emerging as separate entities, with Misconduct first performed in 2013 and Ladykiller in 2014, they have been stitched together thoughtfully by director and producer Claire Evans. Indeed, the two central characters exist in very different worlds with no direct reference to each other, but by placing these side by side, the audience is given the opportunity to draw their own parallels and comparisons between the two. Both monologues provide a background to committing their respective acts of violence, offering different perspectives on the rationale behind it. Neither piece justifies the act straightforwardly, and we get the sense that neither narrator is entirely reliable in their version of events, preventing an easily digestible didactic from being imposed on the piece. Perhaps owing to the age of the pieces, some of the references felt a little dated, though there were also references to more modern fixtures such as TikTok, which made it a little confusing to place where the pieces existed in history. The two performances might have benefited from committing to either being fully updated for the present day or cementing themselves firmly in the past as (recent) period pieces.
Overall though, the structure of He Said/She Said as a double bill proves to be a successful one, as the characters in each piece are given free reign to completely command the stage, locking the audience into their individual perspectives. This approach lends itself well to the intensity of the drama, resulting in a one-two punch of incredibly compelling storytelling.
Misconduct was written by Dom Riley
Ladykiller was written by Madeline Goud
Both pieces directed and produced by Claire Evans
Production Artwork and Photography: Yuchu Zhao
Lighting Direction/Technical DSM: Marta Fossati
Production Assistant/ASM: KAZUE HORIMASU
Design: David Fitzhugh
He Said/She Said is at the White Bear Theatre 24th April to 2nd May 2026 at 7:30pm
Cast
Gwithian Evans as Richie in Misconduct
Geebs Marie Williams as Her in Ladykiller
