Author: jaketurnerchan

REVIEW:Home at Seven at Tabard Theatre

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

revives the play with a self-awareness which makes the show more accessible and modern

R C Sherriff’s Home at Seven was last performed in the West End in 1950. When a man comes home to find he has been missing for 24 hours, his missing memory lands him at the centre of accusations of murder and theft. With the recent war lingering in the memory of the play, it is a close but subtle examination of guilt, a portrait of a shell-shocked England. 

The script itself may be a little dated. It’s rather bloated and oftentimes repetitive, a signifier of the era it was written for. For a murder mystery, it is rather unsurprising and a little predictable. However, it’s a testament to the talent of the actors and the production team that such an enjoyable night was created out of a script slightly dry in content. Where the script lacks, the actors entirely make up for. The twee, English attitude is often lent into, making for a respectfully campy performance. This was well received by the audience, with the room often full of laughter, an unexpected feature of the night. Humour, in this production, felt inter-generational, resting on a shared recognition of a kind of white English middle class. 

Notably, Bridget Lambert went above and beyond to deliver a layered performance of Mrs Preston. Even though the script didn’t often hand it to her, with the written portrayal of Mrs Preston a little thin and dated, Lambert had us gripped from the start, entering the stage with a peculiar reserved anxiety that set the scene of the show without a word. 

Maddie Crofts also made an excellent London stage debut as Peggy Dobson. Though her presence onstage is short-lived, it provided a welcome shift of tone in act 2, deepening the social dimension of the play. 

Another excellent moment was a conversation played out between Major Watson (Karl Moffatt) and Dr Sparling (Andrew Williams) in which the Major’s assumption of Mr Preston’s guilt is scrutinised by the doctor. Here, the script holds up well, assisted even more so by Moffatt and Williams’ engagement with the material and with each other. Williams exuded a sense of genuine care for the matter, and Moffat’s characterisation of the Major in this scene alone showed the dichotomy of how accusation and guilt is experienced by a person. 

Claire Evans’ direction is wonderful. The performance maintains a good flow despite its restricted space, and there are some very thoughtful touches, such as the audience being pointed towards as Mr Preston and the Inspector discuss the Prestons’ garden of Chrysanthemums. Props must also be given to the impressive set design, with touches including R C Sherriff’s own telephone, loaned by the R C Sherriff trust. This, along with the details on the wooden desk and the textiles used on the seating, made for a set that felt critically world-building and period appropriate. 

Evans’ production of Home at Seven revives the play with a self-awareness which makes the show more accessible and modern, without patronising the audience. There’s a clear respect for R C Sherriff and his work, producing an inviting atmosphere into what is ultimately a very enjoyable piece of theatre. 

REVIEW: Doomsday Baby

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

The subtleties of Tooley’s writing get a little lost in the noise

Directed by Jez Davess-Humphrey, Jacqueline Tooley’s Doomsday Baby takes place in the aftermath of a climate collapse event, following a mother (Jodyanne Fletcher Richardson) and her son (Joshua Horsfall) living in a bunker to protect themselves from environmental harm. Rather than centring heavily on the climate aspect of the setting, Tooley’s play follows more intimately the parent-child relationship between the two characters, from reminiscing about Adam’s dead father to a more disturbing aspect of Eve’s attraction to her son, in wake of her husband’s death. Positioned as a psychological horror, the show did effectively elicit a response of shock and disturbance, which sometimes contributed towards a really inviting sense of horror, and sometimes made for a difficult watch. 

Doomsday Baby is at its best when it leant into the absurdity of it all. Towards the end of the second half of the show, malnutrition gets the best of the two characters, and we see them lose capacity of their surroundings, blurring the past, present and imaginary together, culminating in Eve taking advantage of this and her son to try and lure him into sex. It helps that this scene is accompanied by excellent lighting choices, pulsing and cold, as well as a distorted soundtrack of a song as familiar as the others played through the vinyl player throughout the story. 

However, the horrifying peaks of the show aren’t allowed much breathing room to stand out amongst the mass of everything else happening. Naturally, the characters are in a heightened state, creating a lot of high stakes, emotional moments. Whilst this correlates to their setting, it does make for a rather cacophonous viewing experience, and I felt as though some of the brilliant subtleties of Tooley’s writing was somewhat lost amongst the noise. The show wants some levelling out, emotionally. I also wanted to be more fooled in the first half of the play. This levelling out could be achieved by way of some more moments of worldbuilding. Whilst there was plenty in terms of showing us the life of the family, some added context to the world they inhabit felt like a crucial part of the story that was slightly missing. Some thoughtful touches, such as the peaches growing in Scotland, indicated the potential for this to be done really tactfully, if done a little more.

Richardson and Horsfall both displayed some great acting chops. Horsfall played Adam with a sensitivity and panic which made him a character worth rooting for. Richardson showed an ability to switch between moments of care and moments of disturbance so smoothly that it effectively stunned the audience. The pair gave us characters we could feel for, and feel strongly about. Eve did feel portrayed as quite a young character, a touch which is definitely an enriching addition to her disturbance, though I did feel that in the first half I wanted to see more of her matriarchal authority, like we do towards the end of the play. More of this could have added a convincing layer to her abuse towards Adam.

With some tweaking and consideration for pace, Doomsday Baby has the potential to be a modern day Greek tragedy. Tooley is clearly an excellent horror writer, and the concept for the play is accessible and intriguing. The story deserves more clarity, something which I’m sure can be created with a little more space.

REVIEW: Flat 2

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

“A witty, humane introspection into the absurdities of grief”

The door to the Putney Arches venue was ajar enough to let in the noise of the people and traffic parading the bridge above it. Whether intentional or not, this little opening ushered in a bustling sense of the city Lucy Foley’s Flat 2 is set in, additionally allowing some ventilation on a particularly hot day. The show follows the grief of two flatmates found living alone together after both of their partners die in a freak accident after stealing a chicken shop rug. The set up itself is darkly comic, and in its absurdity, the real sounds of the city outside really did contribute to a heavy sense that after death most life really does just keep going on. In her writing, Foley not only tackles the topic of grief with a sense of humour, she illuminates the presence of humour after death, and the subsequent discomfort that brings. 

Foley additionally does an excellent job playing Ava on stage. There is a subtlety in her performance found especially in those quiet moments between lines, whether it be in the way she holds her hands anxiously, or where she directs her eyes to at uncomfortable moments. Every choice made is precise and avoids cliche, something difficult do in a performance centring the well trodden ground of grief. Tom Ashen matches her wonderfully as Freddie. Particularly, a moment early on when Ava is blankly processing her loss, Ashen turns his back to the audience and sobs quietly. This small detail was an interesting s.effective and recognisable portrayal of the unexpected reactions to grief, appearing in between humourous and dissociated lines. Ashen’s performance is likewise careful and true to his character, allowing Freddie to feel familiar to the audience. 


There is so much subtext layered in the script, particularly in relation to Ava, and it left some really interesting avenues to be explored further, whilst also wishing for more moments of quiet and space. A nod to Ava’s brother who died when she was a child is something I especially wanted to be explored more. This, I felt, was an interesting distinguishing factor between the two characters—Ava has had experiences of grief, whereas Freddie had never been to a funeral before. At times, the show seems a little unsure of how seriously to take itself. The weight of grief becomes overwhelming by the end, which feels appropriate. Whilst the show generally does a good job balancing its comedy and its bereavement, it would benefit some more by allowing the pendulum to swing more in one direction and stay there for a little longer. Ava’s seemingly masked response in her early stages of grief seem like a good opportunity to do this. For example, she brushes off her brother’s suicide as “his choice”, a moment which I felt tackled the absurdity experienced in the wake of suicide with extreme accuracy and brutal humour. Moments of contrast like this feel uncomfortable, but that discomfort feels central to the play. In this, Flat 2 successfully tears apart two characters otherwise quite ordinary and recognisable—preserving the humanity of both whilst allowing them to indulge in the hedonism and absurdity that often accompanies the shock of death.

Flat 2 heads to the Drayton Arms Theatre on 3rd August and tickets are available here.

REVIEW: Unhinged

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Rating: 5 out of 5.

Stefanie Reynolds creates a chemistry between herself and the audience that makes for a rewarding theatre experience.


There is no doubt somewhat of a saturation of shows following the lives of aimless young adults. It’s a mode we return to as audiences and creatives not necessarily for its originality, but for its ability to make our common yet isolating experiences feel seen. Off of the successes of brilliant singular narrative shows like Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, this particular genre has been persistently replicated in popular media, sometimes to a point of exhaustion. At their worst, these stories can feel self-indulgent, uninteresting, and unproductive. At their best, they may look something like Stefanie Reynolds’ Unhinged. 

Hazel Williams is a struggling 29 year old with a crumbling council flat in her absent brother’s name, an admin job at an unstable charity, and friends around her whose lives seem to be progressing ahead of her at an unattainable rate. This setup is recognisable, humanising, and creates a base for the play’s humour. Reynolds, a comedy writer, absolutely succeeds at this, and creates an exceptional chemistry between Hazel and the audience. She makes regular eye contact, occasionally directly eliciting responses from the audience, whose laughter persisted throughout the show. The room was undeniably hers, and this did not feel like an intimidating experience, but rather very much a communal one. The plight of many single-narrative shows is their restraint in their sole perspective, sometimes leading to a sense of unaccounted selfishness, or even narcissism.

In Unhinged, despite Hazel displaying some traits of that nature, the world around her is drawn in, implicating her in a much wider narrative. This is what Unhinged does so brilliantly—it looks precisely to scrutinise how we construct narratives ourselves. One of the most compelling points in the show takes place during a phone call, where we see a shift in Hazel’s behaviour, showing that there exists a very different side to her than the quippy, inviting character who interacts with the audience onstage. The show never gets trapped in its own narrative, instead constantly seeking to expand its catch. It reaches out across characters, distinguished so humorously by Reynolds, bringing in a whole community of people who are implicated in the wider narrative. A portrait is painted of Manchester that encompasses class, race, queerness, and gender. The depiction of black masculinity was particularly moving and prudent, accompanied by some excellent lighting choices. Throughout, Reynolds subverts our expectations, creating a story packed full of characters that are just as complex as the city they inhabit. 

Props must also be given to director Erinn Dhesi— It is clear that the pair make an excellent team. The show worked with a sparse array of props and set, relying mostly on a fold up chair and table, still managing to conjure up a rich, entertaining story. This, paired with the precision and directness in Reynold’s performance, made for an rewarding show that was accessible and accommodating for its audience. For every part Hazel Williams let us into her life, there was a sense of letting a bit of her into ours.

REVIEW: 10 Nights

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Rating: 3 out of 5.

Shahid Iqbal Khan’s play explores devotion to life and religion, leaving an engaging impression which wants a deeper character study.

Shahid Iqbal Khan’s Olivier nominated play 10 Nights makes a welcome return for its 2025 UK tour. The story follows the journey of Yasser, played by Adeel Ali, as he partakes in itikaf, a voluntary practice in which those observing Ramadan spend the last ten nights of it living only within the mosque. It’s a brilliant set up for a one man show, itikaf being a practice of isolating oneself from the outside world, choosing instead to reflect and focus on worship.

It must be said that although it would not be a necessary hurdle to jump, Khan nonetheless does an expert job of balancing the religious material of the play. The show felt accessible to non-muslims, whilst also not pandering to them. Simultaneously, it was clear that the show was rewarding to those audience members who were familiar with the religious practices, with some moments of humour being laughed at by half the room, flying over the heads of the other without any overall awkwardness or confusion. The play is palatable, and it doesn’t have to be, but managing the vastly varying cultural expectations of audience members with one actor to do it is a meticulous skill. It’s a credit to both Khan’s writing and Ali’s acting ability that this was pulled off so successfully. 

Whilst the play did an excellent job of initially ushering us into Yasser’s world, it struggled to expand it much throughout the play’s duration. The story touched upon themes that felt needed further exploring. Yasser’s complex relationship to masculinity was apparent, but it was unclear whether the play itself was aware of this. When life outside of the mosque was mentioned, it felt brushed over. A little longer spent on Yasser’s memories would have helped enrich our understanding of him as a character, allowing the more emotional beats towards the end of the play to hit harder.

For what it’s worth, there are great moments of discomfort during some of Yasser’s interactions with the other worshippers. Ali’s performance is overall a joy to watch, with his cheeky portrayal of Yasser feeling familiar and inviting. Stronger distinctions could have been made between his portrayal of Yasser and other characters, as well as distinctions between Yasser’s flamboyant inner world and how he presents himself outwardly to others in the mosque. 

The play was particularly refreshing in its consolidation of the modernity of the present with a practice steeped in tradition. This was most engaging when handling Yasser’s relationships with himself and to his religion. However, the portrayal of his interactions with social media felt somewhat inauthentic and perhaps unnecessary. This dichotomy could be seen in the impressive set of the play, designed by the production’s director, Sâmir Bhamra. With the projection on the back wall, it sometimes did feel as though the set was attempting to do too much, which was occasionally distracting from the performance, although the inclusion of subtitles was welcome. 

There’s a really interesting story of the devotion and commitment to oneself in 10 Nights. Its charm and plot were thoroughly engaging throughout. It’s a unique play, whose perimeters are undefined, something it would benefit from leaning into and playing with some more. 

10 Nights is touring until the 8th of February, with dates in London, Derby, Salford, Huddersfield and Birmingham.