REVIEW: PLAYER by Matthew Lyon at Riverside Studios 11 - 31 May 2026
'Baroque and prole' ★★★★
Who would be an actor? As Patti Lupone said, “theatre is like a gym membership: you pay a lot, suffer in front of people, and nobody claps when you finish.” This is just one quote in the programme, gathered by Matthew Lyon who writes, directs, produces - and of course, acts in - his latest fifty-minute show. Player is all about the trials and tribulations of that most expressive, vulnerable, and unstable of professions.
For anyone who delighted in the linguistic joys of Broken, Lyon’s first Riverside show about a relationship breakdown, Player will not disappoint. It is similarly a two-hander, male and female, where conflicts flare and chemistry fizzes. The male character, embodied by Lyon, is inspired to become an actor when watching Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He comes from a troubled background with an alcoholic mother and dreams of escape. He wants to be a famous actor.
Constructed as a series of small scenes, Player takes us on a journey through one wannabee actor's life. Inspired by Steven Berkoff’s Actor, a series of comedy sketches sees him standing up to family, navigating a dismissive official at the job centre, auditioning with pretentious directors and taking any tiny role that’s offered. Hurrah! Seventh spear carrier! Hurrah! A cheese and pickle sandwich! It’s all acting.
Multi-talented Ola Forman, Lyon’s female sidekick, shines in multiple character roles with her impressive breadth of accents: braying Felicity, the insufferable head of drama school; drawling Megan, an award-winning Mormon actress and flighty Tabitha, a ‘visionary’ director who has no idea. Dripping in parody and satire , this slice of comedic theatre is also an acerbic commentary on the conceits and contrivances of the acting world and its inherent class bias. In this competitive, travelling circus, honesty is demanded but authenticity is rare and much remains superficial. Everyone performs most of the time.
Lyon has a distinctive look, voice and style: a senior skinhead in braces and DM boots, he resembles a young Donald Pleasance. For anyone who loves language, his writing displays dazzling verbosity. Overblown, florid, exuberant, he has a layered, linguistic ball with poetic verse, cockney rhyming slang and brand names. His words are like a torrent, packed with metaphors and similes often hard-edged and masculine. He talks of his dreams being crushed “like Hillsborough fences.”
While Lyon drives the whole creative project, his writing stands out as audacious and unique. Arguably, Player could have a stronger opening and closing, and the transitions between the scenes could be smoother—things a director might have focused on more astutely. But this aside, Player is a terrific piece of work, worth fifty minutes of anyone's time, full of wit, sharp observation and yes - honesty.
READ INSIGHTFUL INTERVIEW WITH MATTHEW LYON'S HERE
BOX OFFICE Player | Riverside Studios
