REVIEW: MOTHERS’ DAY/FATHERS’ DAY at Drayton Arms Theatre 17 – 21 June 2025

‘two shows for the price of one’ ★★ ½

Paradigm’s ambitious co-production with the Drayton Arms Theatre offers two shows for the price of one. Both are one-person plays that take place on their eponymous days, with the running order alternating each night. On the evening I attended, "Fathers’ Day" played first.

"Fathers’ Day" follows Joe, a down-on-his-luck dad who is denied access to his son, Davey. This is partly a product of his inflexible job as a plane cleaner, and partly a product of his inflexible ex-wife denying him time with his son. When he learns just how little his manager thinks of him, Joe hijacks the plane he’s cleaning and takes off into the skies over Luton.

There’s a lot to admire here. Writer Giles Fernando attempts something formally bold: a closed-time, closed-space one-person show where the protagonist never directly addresses the audience. Instead, the action unfolds through phone calls, selfie videos, and radio communications. Director Penny Gkritzapi complements the intensity baked into the script with her stripped-back set: for most of the show, it’s just Joe and the pilot’s seat. El Anthony gives a committed performance as Joe, throwing himself into the in-flight moments with real physical energy.

But the play didn’t quite take off for me (apologies for the pun). The sound quality of the pre-recorded audio was patchy, and I struggled to catch several lines. More critically, the energy felt oddly flat – particularly in the moments of crisis. The sound design could have done more to heighten key beats: the first take-off, the mid-air stall, the final triumphant loop-the-loop. These moments lacked the punch they needed.

Dramatically, the stakes also felt off. An unsanctioned flight is both incredibly dangerous and incredibly illegal. I never bought that Joe had been pushed to the psychological state necessary to do something so drastic. Nor did the script make a strong case that it could be justified, even internally, as an act of love for his son. Furthermore, the radio exchanges, especially with air traffic controller Kerry, felt too light, too flirty, too disconnected from the gravity of the situation. Whilst Kerry would of course want to keep Joe on side, their interactions lacked any subtext or edge that you’d expect in a context where one wrong move from Joe could result in a fatal plane crash.

After the interval, there was a clear gear change (perhaps another pun – do planes have gears?). "Mothers’ Day" is a shift in tone and form. Pauline, a seasoned film extra, addresses the audience directly, walking us through her illustrious career; her leg had a starring moment in "No Time to Die". As she tells us her story, the intergenerational tensions that have shaped her life rise to the surface. We uncover the strain between Pauline, her mother, and her daughter Samantha: three generations of women who have felt robbed by their daughters and restrained by their mothers.

Fernando’s script has some genuinely funny moments, and Sarah Wanendeya brings real warmth and charm to the role. One standout scene – a strained family afternoon tea – crackled with tension, and Wanendeya delivered it brilliantly. However, the play too often drifts from its emotional core – the mother-daughter relationships – in favour of spending time on Pauline’s on-set shenanigans. While these anecdotes are entertaining, they begin to feel repetitive in the second half, crowding out any deeper exploration of family dynamics.

The two plays have clear thematic parallels: one features a father desperate to succeed for his child; the other, a mother determined to succeed despite hers. That said, it’s a tall order to ask audiences to sit through two one-hour monologues back-to-back, especially when they differ so starkly in style and tone. The ambition is admirable, but I left feeling that each show might have landed more powerfully on its own.

Mothers' Day/Fathers' Day by Giles Fernando / Drayton Arms Theatre / 17 – 21 June 2025

https://www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk/mothers-day-fathers-day