Category ★★★☆☆

Reading Time: 2 minutesAs the show ended, a chorus of “Awws” rang from the audience. This fully showcases the sweetness of this story about two young people finding connection in a time of struggle. It is incredibly endearing.

This is, in no small part, to the actors Hadsan Mohamud (who also wrote the piece) as Najma, and Mohamed Hashi as Zakariya. The two have a clear chemistry from the first moment they appear together, and the titular crush is evident. What is really impressive is how well the two young actors portray the depth of the pain and highs of joy within a short moment of each other. The flip between emotions flawlessly and get the audience to root for them from the outset.

Reading Time: 2 minutesMary has been one of the most popular girls name in Britain for the last five hundred years. Over that time many heroines, villains, scientists, and cut-throats with the name Mary have been born, and only some of them have gotten the time they deserved in the history books spotlight. Bloody Mary(s) asks us the simple question: Which would you bring along to a picnic? And in the process of answering that, perhaps we may rethink how we remember those from the past, and how differently women often take up (or don’t) the spotlight.

Reading Time: 2 minutesFor Cabbage the Clown, the Cinemadrome is where young dreams go to die. It is also where she makes a living doing a shite minimum wage job constantly picking up (and doing fun things with) a whole lot of trash.

From tempting us into playing MadLibs to singing a song about getting sucked while dressed as a blue slushie (and then getting sucked, as requested, by a member of the audience), Cabbage the Clown does what she can to make her job - which she repeatedly claims she “loves” - palatable fun and not worth hanging herself over.

Reading Time: 2 minutesHannah Platt has been a rising comedian around the UK for a few years now, and one of the first people I wanted to see for a whole hour rather than as another suggestion on Instagram reels. A show about cults, by a comedian who loves joking about being unable to make eye contact? Sounds like a recipe for fun!