“Bone-chilling and unbridled eccentricity funnelled into 60 minutes of gothic Americana comedy”
Shenoah Allen really understands his audience. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Brits love an eccentric underdog. Unlike the Americans who love a cocky winner, we love to root for the less-egregious, the self-deprecating, the weird. Despite never relating to a single story he relayed, I found Allen to be funny, endearing and incredibly engaging. His musical cues were weirdly intimate- awkward family audio clips with mic-drop zingers – a particularly niche quote from his terrifying aunt describing why she covered up casual death threats was particularly well-received by the audience.
But let me back up, who even is Shenoah Allen? An unconventional actor and comedian, he was raised by hippies in New Mexico, USA and what follows is an hour of absurdist charm depicting his formative years. Harrowing life moments depicting entrenched American attitudes regarding guns, drugs, religion and sexuality are the framing devices for his offbeat anecdotes that may be the reason for what he refers to as “unnamed dread”. Treating the performance as a pseudo-therapy session breaking the fourth wall, he knows his audience won’t necessarily understand the nuance of what was normal for him growing up. His delivery offsets the content and he nails almost every punch-line. His humility and pathos is particularly well portrayed when discussing his father’s sexuality for example. We learn of his educational setting, his friendships, and his rather homicidal family. It is important to note we have no way to really know if his stories are indeed truthful but he’s so likeable and witty that we warm to him anyway in the storytelling despite possible embellishment.
Allen is able to weave starkly macabre vignettes with personal soudscapes of his family peppered throughout excellent use of accents, facial expressions and a sense of physicality that allowed him to embody those he was caricaturing. The atmosphere evoked folklore storytelling around a campfire, as children try to scare each other with tales of creepy encounters in the forest, or strange behavior from familiar faces.
The only questions were of content. There was a desire to know more about his life. Allen seems to have many more stories to tell, which raises the question of why he stopped at adolescence. Was it a personal choice to protect his current family, or perhaps there simply was never the same cacophony of horror that clearly embodied so much of his youth? Occasionally the pacing and transitions were staccato, sometimes leaving a joke like an unfinished concept; however, the surrealism in the variety was enjoyable.
Overall, it is a slickly written, well-timed fusion of stand-up comedy and classic gothic Americana. It is refreshing that it avoids typical American bombast, and his undoubtedly complex family situation is never mocked or derided in a gratuitous fashion. Despite experiencing some quite frankly depressing scenarios growing up, he reassured his audience that he was mentally on the right path, through love and (obviously) humour. Whether that’s true or not is anyone’s guess. I would love to see a full, two act special about this man’s life. Despite him dismissing it due to the atrocities, he would make an excellent party guest, full of an unassuming nature hiding sensational stories. Allen’s depicts his past with an air of Brothers Grimm dark fairytale nostalgia. In attempting to extract the truth of his trauma, he has created a theatrical myth to watch.
Bloodlust Summertime runs at the Soho Theatre until 21st February 2026.