REVIEW: THE KING OF HOLLAND PARK at Golden Goose Theatre 3 – 14 November 2026
‘a joyous halter-skelter farce’ ★★★ ½
Panda la Terriere and her company Personal Trainers Theatre are enjoying a residency at the Golden Goose Theatre, finishing on Saturday 14th November, with her latest show The King of Holland Park. She has a comedy sensibility that might be described as Madcap. On a scaffolding of woke archetypes and cultural modishness she erects a world of fantasy and fun. Henrio has declared himself the King of Holland Park, seceded from the UK, and gathered together a band of misfits to populate his Anarchist Empire. Pitted against his monarchist pretensions is Community Support Officer Mandy, as straitlaced and proper as a body can be. The plot, which gives the evening a bit of go-forward but need not detain the audience for long, concerns the collapse of Henrio’s mini empire, and then flourishing romance between the two principals.
The company progresses the evening through a series of farcical bits, some more successful than others but all zipping by at a frenetic pace. If that bit didn’t work for you, another will be along in a moment. There are enough hits to outweigh the occasional miss, and it adds up to a joyous halter-skelter farce.
Some of the dialogue gets lost in the shuffle, particularly when actors are using mics, and that’s a shame because the words are surreally compelling. Previous work by Panda has featured more engaging character work, but all in all, a fun evening and a compelling advertisement for Radical Gardenin.
BOX OFFICE https://www.goldengoosetheatre.co.uk/whatson/kingofhollandpark
