“Excellent performances in the grip of criminal mania seeking to justify their actions”
Why do people kill? Blending elements of pent up rage, opportunistic objects, and self-defense to justify heinous acts, two short plays explore the notion that any one of us can kill another, given the right set of circumstances.
Misconduct
Richie (played by Gwithian Evans) plans to have one last send off with his two best mates, Mickey and “El Tel”. The story revolves around the trio’s journey to watch the Leeds United football match against their local unnamed team. A series of events devolve into the trio getting kicked off the train, kicked out of the stadium and separated from each other. The act of violence carried out stems from a string of rather unlikely scenarios in which a posh fruit knife could have been ditched multiple times yet rather inexplicably but conveniently ends up in the raging hand of our antihero.
Evans’ acting is a tour de force. Clearly and realistically portraying a millennial cockney geezer with a way for phsyicality and an awkward laugh, but whose building anxiety and frustration go unchecked enough to cause catastrophic results. He is clearly gunning for a fight, any sort of release from the fact his trio is about to be over and he is powerless to stop it. The play is a venture into the fragility of male relationships, and it is clear Richie resents Mickey becoming middle class and moving to Rutland to be a chemistry teacher. This resentfulness proves to be his downfall.
Despite the realism and nuanced portrayal though, Dom Riley’s script belies elements of distraction to the point of incredulity. El Tel, we are told is a 6 foot 5 “brick shithouse” who sounds like Vinnie Jones circa 2005. In order to intimidate a man on the train his tactic is to use…. shorthand. It’s comically jarring and takes us out of the moment- we’re not even sure if Richie would be able to understand shorthand enough to recognize it anyway. It’s also not clear why Mickey is so adamant on bringing a supposedly precious fruit knife to a football match just to cut a lime, having no established prior recklessness as a character. Despite losing it multiple times, he conveniently finds a way to convince the others to bring it with them at each step. It feels like a string of convenient deus ex machinas contrived to get to the final awful scene.
Ladykiller
Her (played by Geebs Marie Williams) is an altogether more manic experience. It kicks off with a hotel cleaner in shock, having stabbed a woman to death with a letter opener following an alleged theft accusation. From then on it’s a rollercoaster of true crime statistics and rants as she tries to convince the audience women should be able to kill for the thrill of it, be evil for evil’s sake, whilst also being able to exploit stereotypes of femininity to weaponise the vulnerability projected onto women equally capable of horrendous acts as easily as men. Williams’ performance is incredibly strong; both mesmerizingly frenzied and deeply unsettling in her persuasiveness.
It does feel however, particularly from the halfway point that we are sat in the middle of a stream of consciousness written by a true crime fangirl. As though writer Madeline Gould has just read a book on criminal profiling after binge-watching Mindhunter and now we’re all enduring an accidental seminar of the categories and how to get away with murder. The characterisation gets muddled as it appears she’s killed before and intends to kill again but her motivations are mixed. She wants to kill for pleasure (to prove a feminist point, presumably), but also to make sure abusers do not go on to commit further abuse, as it is revealed she is a victim of childhood abuse herself, though this is not fully explored. Williams’ strong performance commands attention but the script veers too often into podcast ranting territory. Elements of noughties music, TV channel changing and spotlighting highlight key moments for dramatic effect, and the use of Misconduct ending with the violence and Ladykiller starting with the violence is a satisfying transition.
Ultimately strong characters are given a shot in the arm with sensational acting all around, piquing enough interest that they could be fleshed out fully with complete character arcs. There is much to enjoy with both plays and are worth it for the talent of Williams and Evans.
He Said/She Said plays at the White Bear Theatre in London from 21st April to 2nd May 2026.