REVIEW: HOLY SH*T by Jack Fairhurst at Riverside Studios 6-17 December 2022

‘Funny and irreverent with a whiff of Fabreze’ ★★★ ½

George Hobbs is the priest in a failing church, with a leaky roof, a dwindling congregation and monumental financial problems. New priest Charlie Moss is foisted on George by his local bishop. It is part of the Church’s new scheme to address a surplus of priests, with so many churches being converted into rock climbing centres. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and this unlikely pair become allies in a bid to save their church. They hatch a plan to dig up bodies from the Church’s graveyard and sell them to the local university for dissection classes. All goes well at first, and the priests rake in money with their grisly scheme, until circumstances conspire against them.

Holy Sh*t has some laugh out loud moments, and the macabre story is interwoven with debates about the nature of God and allusions to the challenges and scandals the Church establishment has had to face in recent years. The gruesome story was dealt with, with humour and a liberal spraying of Fabreze. However, at points the writing is laboured, as if the writer Jack Fairhurst does not trust that the audience will “get it”. This is nothing that a bit of judicious editing could not fix.

Shout out to Flora Douglas who effortlessly portrayed three very different characters: a hapless policewoman, a gangster boss and an aged church volunteer. Douglas brought an energy that lit up the stage every time she appeared. Jack Dillon was bordering on anarchic as the new priest Charlie Moss, a good foil to Rafael Aptroot’s nervy, conflicted and jaded priest George Hobbs. Kieren Taylor-Ford, who also played three characters, was most convincing as the mad professor, and practically salivated in his desire for more and more dead bodies.

Rosa Higgs’ direction brought out the best in the piece and there were some nice moments of physical comedy. The set design was sparse but clever. 

Holy Sh*t by Jack Fairhurst, produced by Brick Fox Theatre Company, Riverside Studios, 6-17 December 2022

Box Office: https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/holy-sht-49191/

Director: Rosa Higgs

Performers: Jack Dillon, Rafael Aptroot, Flora Douglas, Kieren Taylor-Ford

Reviewer: Srabani Sen

Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough Award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.