Pete Ashmore impresses in this moving drama built around an unusual Make-A-Wish request
REVIEW: 4 stars to #BeforeImDead @theglitch
‘Pete Ashmore impresses in this moving drama built around an unusual Make-A-Wish request’
#review #theatre #london
Zara (Myla Carmen) is seventeen and dying. She wants to write and perform her own eulogy on Radio 4, and Stuart (Pete Ashmore) is the charity worker tasked with making this wish come true. Somewhere amidst the OFCOM guidelines – “I’m going to have to seriously edit the part about my dad” – and parental consent forms, this unlikely duo strike up a very human connection. The warmth of this bond propels Before I’m Dead towards its inevitable conclusion, delivering plenty of laughs and a fair few tears across its taut seventy minutes.
Blending humour with emotional rawness, it’s clear why James Rushbrook’s script won the 2026 VCA Playwriting Award. Neither Zara nor Stuart are afraid of the dark humour which so often accompanies death: Zara’s even written a few jokes into her eulogy. Both performers’ deft comic instincts combine with Rushbrook’s strong material to land genuine laughs, even in Zara’s darkest moments. An especially funny scene involves the hand puppets Stuart brought to the duo’s first session, Zara’s age having been mistakenly recorded as seven rather than seventeen. They act out the very serious HR meeting which followed a complaint from Zara’s mother, who objects to her eulogy scheme.
Fundamentally, though, this is a play about reckoning with our own mortality, and how much control we can expect over our deaths. The audience surround all four sides of the performance space in a single row, boxing the action in intimately. Ashmore stands out in these dramatic moments, eyes glistening with emotion and voice backed with a quiver. Carmen’s Zara pales in comparison, with understandable anger and anxiety on the page being reduced to a petulance that’s not altogether convincing. This impression is not helped by multiple stumbles over her lines.
Interspersed between scenes are snapshots of each character’s past; the audience learns about Stuart’s relationship with his mother (cold, strained), and sees how Zara’s parents met (drunk, adrenalised). With minimal set – four movable crates and some lighting – these transitions demand much of the actors. A leather jacket quickly comes to symbolise Zara’s father, transforming Ashmore into a surprisingly charismatic figure, whilst a scrappy notebook and pen signal Zara’s presence. The sole exception is a confusing carousel scene, where it’s unclear who either actor is playing and in what time period.
Playwright James Rushbrook aims to discuss big ideas through intimate personal relationships, an approach he calls ‘domestic-dystopia’. Through the strong, three-dimensional bond between dying Zara and caring Stuart, Before I Die pulls this off spectacularly. A cathartic ending brings the story to a fitting conclusion, keeping the plot well-contained and compellingly paced. The resulting round of applause is one of the most memorable and resonant I’ve been a part of.
Before I Die plays at The Glitch until 21st June, with Thursday and Saturday matinees. Tickets can be purchased here.