REVIEW: VERMIN by Benny Ainsworth at Park Theatre 9 – 20 September 2025
‘beautifully written, exquisitely acted, repugnant show’ ★★★★
Vermin is a complicated little play. Not in staging, that’s really simple – two actors, two kitchen chairs, no set, minimal lighting effects. The complications come with the audience reactions. In the fullest sense of the word, this play is repulsive. The male character, Billy, expresses his O. C. D. by acts of appalling cruelty to animals, lovingly delineated by Benny Ainsworth. The writing does a fantastic job of making the acts vivid, Benny Ainsworth brings out the joy, the achievement felt by his character in a deeply impressive fashion, and it is horrible. Superb stage-craft, vivid nausea. It’s a ride.
Mr. Ainsworth is paired with Sally Paffett playing Billy’s wife Rachel. Their romance was triggered by seeing a suicide in action at a railway station, but impending motherhood softens Rachel. Her journey is derailed by a difficult birth experience, wincingly well related by Ms. Paffett, and thereafter the couple’s response to other creatures takes different directions, leading to disagreements.
This is a beautifully written, exquisitely acted, repugnant show. Go to enjoy a fine piece of theatre, stay away if you are not up for nastiness.
Triptych Theatre in association with Park Theatre presents:
Vermin by Benny Ainsworth | Directed by Michael Parker
Park Theatre
On till 20th September.
Box Office https://parktheatre.co.uk/events/vermin/
Actors: Benny Ainsworth and Sally Paffett
