Six Kinds of Wednesday, part of Grimfest, at Bread & Roses Theatre 26 - 28th of October 2026

‘80s nostalgia, live music and excellent performances create a strong 60 minutes that deserves a larger stage’ ★★★ ½

Scott Slocombe’s Six Kinds of Wednesday with its 80s rock and roll aesthetic hooked the audience in from the moment it began; with costumes, music and performances creating a world of nostalgia. Following a young musician, Valentine, this production reveals a man finally in with a chance of dating his childhood crush before he gets abducted by a vampire.

Valentine is a loveable and curious musician skilfully played by Will Hamilton, playing the perfect protagonist for the audience. The vampire promises to return him that very night only if Valentine helps him finish the album that he’s been working on for over 300 years.

Witty and dry, Scott Slocombe’s vampire Abhartach creates a brilliant relationship with the other lead, Valentine, whose naivety chimes well with the ambition of his undead counterpart. The audience is consistently immersed in a world that at one moment, takes us into a 1980s pub quiz with the characters talking directly to us.

Edward Hole multi-rolled as the vampiric henchman Malbard and the manipulative pub landlord Elvis. Hunched and crumpled in physicality, Malbard acts as the poetic narrator for the audience with his gurgling voice making him a source of comedy that you couldn’t take your eyes off. Compared with Elvis who is controlling and sleazy towards his girlfriend April – played expertly by Polly Maltby (fulfilling a version of a damsel in distress) she is being used by Elvis but is loved by Valentine. The audience are lured by the performances into this world.

Yet, the true lead of this play was the live music. Aside from their acting, each member of the cast is proficient in a number of instruments, creating a rather musical show with songs all the way through as they write Abhartach’s dream record. The concept of Gig Theatre is incredibly up and coming, combining theatrical storytelling with the excitement of a very original kind of live music event.

My initial reaction to this piece was that it would have better suited a larger stage. The volume and size of the instruments took up a lot of the performance space and at times felt clunky for the staging, but I admire and applaud the ability to create a show of this level in a fringe theatre venue. It would have been better for there to be more of a connection between the music and the story - the lyrics weren't always helping the plot and characters felt as it often felt like a contemporary musical.

But with songs brilliantly played and well written we are enveloped in this rock and roll 60-minute piece. The work has incredible potential and had a very strong start; I would love to see this piece developed into a longer show with more of a focus on developing the role of April. As the only female character, her story didn’t expand out of the stereotype of being a love interest and victim.

All in all, it's an exciting and lively piece of theatre that would benefit from a clearer marriage between the plot and the songs.

Six Kinds of Wednesday plays at the Bread & Roses Theatre

Presented by Sleaze Theatre
Writer and director: Scott Slocombe
Music and Lyrics: Scott Slocombe & Oliver Magor
Assistant Director: Gemma Upton
Branding Designer: Gustav Melbardis
Sound and Lighting: Matthew Hamilton

Photography credit: Ben Fielding.