REVIEW: Horatio Nelson: Fever and Fire at The Tabard 9 – 11 April 2026
‘No Mutiny Here’: Audiences Happily Surrender to Horatio Nelson: Fever and Fire ★★★★★
A snowball thrown by young Nelson at the audience turns cannonball when met with the boom of the theatre speakers. Even if it’s a one man show, Horatio Nelson: Fever and Fire, packs plenty of punch whilst maintaining a careful, clever control and makes this legend of the sea into a masterful spectacle.
You’ll be taken on a riotous ride through the turn of the 19th century with none other than Admiral Nelson. From statue to breathing war hero, he rocks us into action with equal parts laughter, joy and in this dramatic telling with considerable success from this acclaimed historian. For Adam Preston certainly has all his sailor caps on as actor, director and producer with his own production about Britain’s greatest naval hero. With a clear knack for epic battles like Trafalgar, Preston shows due diligence towards accurately retelling vital events in Nelson’s life – yes, I checked all the important dates afterwards on my phone – but most importantly, he works in the admiral’s private life, depicting him in the end, as a family man.
“Should I have let someone else take my battles. Or should I have been picking blackberries with my family in the sun,” Nelson claims towards the end, drawing us into the central tenet of Preston’s monodrama. Indeed, some might ask why we need another rendition of one of the British Greats that deploys none other than one of its most touted trophies. Yet, it’s the often-forgotten women in Nelson’s life that construct the most attractive and powerful element in this play. History classes often miss out Nelson’s great love Lady Emma Hamilton and his neglected wife, Frances Nelson, and yet, Preston’s script make them the driving forces leading him towards success.
We are clearly in safe hands as Preston’s academic research, journalism and screen work, makes him the right voice to bring Nelson to life. In fact, Nelson is nothing but a miserable, needy, “middle child” forcing himself as a child into the family spotlight, in his early years. Preston makes for a versatile actor, hopping and jumping across the stage with sword at the ready, even taking a suspicious swig of a liquid that looks like actual brandy on stage.
He makes punters, parents and their previously silent children in the audience, smile from ear to ear, or laugh with his smart, whimsical, jokes about all the gossip of Georgian life. Who knew the admiral was depicted as a promiscuous lout by the newspapers of his day whilst he was out doing battle?
Costumes from Emmy Award winning Dougie Hawkes, whose stitch work created all the rage in Bridgeton, sparkle in all the right places with all the jazz of period costume made properly. Not a neck chief can be found out of place in Nelson’s well to do, captain’s outfit. Amanda Priestly fashions a battle on stage whereby sight there is but one man, in dress up, swishing his saber about the stage.
This hopefully will not be Preston’s last outing under the stage lights and though tickets are priced a few pounds about the going rate, at £23 for General commission, the work is well worth the extra cost.
Horatio Nelson: Fever and Fire
The Tabard theatre, Chiswick
9 - 11 April 2026
Box Office https://tabard.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173672432
Written and performed by Adam Preston
Particular Productions
https://particularproductions.co.uk/
