REVIEW: STARFISH by Richard Fitchett at Bread and Roses Theatre 11 – 15 November 2025
‘Thought-provoking but lacklustre’ ★★ ½
The theme of this inconclusive, oddly dated play is homelessness. Cheryl (Emma Riches) and Tim (Ed Jobbing) are a pair of teachers who own a Victorian terraced house in Tooting. One Friday night they are invaded – almost literally because he has found the key and let himself in – by a homeless man, Eric (Peter Saracen). The implausible scenario is that he had done the washing up and cooked their dinner. In the end, liberal folk who donate to charities regularly, they reluctantly agree to let him stay one night, Predictably it ends up being a lot longer. Alan Bennett did in first with Lady in the Van (1999).
Eric has mental health issues, talks in a faint whine and repeats himself a lot. At the same time he’s believably and manipulatively cunning and threatens to kill himself if they throw him out. It’s a pleasing, well observed performance. And Emma Riches convincingly presents an articulate educated woman, good at negotiating. Her scenes with Eric are the best thing in the play. We get a clear vision of how good Cheryl must be at school dealing with troubled youngsters. Jobbing’s character is less sympathetic and at times the acting seems a bit overegged. The fourth character – much smaller role - is Lisa Minichiello’s Karin, Cheryl’s university friend who works for a homeless charity but who can’t do much to help.
There are too many short scenes and clumsy shifts in this play involving much fussing with props and furniture. It should be more streamlined than it is (although characters wearing different clothes does indicate passage of time) and certainly doesn’t need the interruption of an interval.
Moreover there are textual inconsistencies and plot holes. What time does Eric intrusively bring breakfast in bed to Cheryl and Tim? At one point 1am is mentioned. At another it’s 5am. And where does Eric get the money from to keep buying paint, wallpaper, pictures, runner bean seed and Fray Bentos meat pies? It’s also hard to believe that a youngish man like Tim would be reading an old fashioned newspaper. Surely in 2025 he’d have a digital version?
There’s a poignant plot twist at the end of ‘Starfish’ which I didn’t see coming and that’s effective. We’re also left realising that there is no solution to homelessness unless, as Cheryl half seriously suggests everyone with a spare room takes in a homeless person which is not going to happen. In a rather obviously contrived didactic moment the play informs us that there are 300,000 homeless people in this country which is equivalent to the entire population of Brighton and numbers are rising all the time. If only there were an answer.
STARFISH by Richard Fitchett, Directed by Lucy Appleby at
Bread and Roses, Clapham 11 – 15 November 2025
BOX OFFICE https://www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk/whats-on.html
