REVIEW: LOCAL at Finborough Theatre 14 July – 1 August 2026
‘A thoughtful meditation on place, becoming a parent and new perspective on your own childhood.’ ★★★
How important to us is the place where we are from? How does it shape our identity? And is defining a place ever straightforward? Liz Richardson’s one woman play explores these themes in relation to her own life and upbringing.
The narrative is triggered by Richardson’s parents’ decision to sell the family home, leading her to return to the Lake District. But is it really the Lake District or is it West Cumbria? And does being born and growing up in a place automatically make you a “local”? These things can be a matter of perspective. The play makes clever use of video (shot by Jim Dawson and Izzy Pye) to evoke the beautiful region. The scenery is spectacular but other things intrude, such as the Sellafield nuclear processing plant (where Richardson’s father worked). The contrast is considerable, but which should define the area?
Richardson is a charismatic performer and hearing her revisit her home and teenage years is compelling. The set (designed by Lizzy Leech) is based on Richardson’s teenage bedroom in the 1990s, and the artifacts and music are certainly evocative of the time. Rediscovering old diaries and reconnecting with old school friends helps her to unpack the story. The play is also about storytelling itself. With a nickname of “60 per cent truth-Liz”, the narrator is clear that this story is, like all good yarns, embellished.
Whilst the play is always engaging and often funny, it sometimes lacks dramatic urgency, or at least until the closing sequence. But Local is a thoughtful meditation on place, becoming a parent and how this provides a new perspective on your own childhood.
LOCAL devised and written by Liz Richardson. Co-devised and directed by Amy Hailwood.
Produced by Liz Richardson Productions Ltd
Playing at the Finborough Theatre until 1 August 2026:
https://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/local
Photography: James Kirby
