REVIEW: DIAGNOSIS @ FINBOROUGH THEATRE

🎭 Diagnosis

📍 Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London, SW10 9ED

🗓 Thursday 15th May 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

UNSETTLING, URGENT AND BRILLIANTLY PERFORMED

From the moment it begins, DIAGNOSIS pulls you into its distressing world. Overheard walkie-talkie chatter sets the tone: a woman is being brought into custody after punching a man in a bar. She’s described as “a live one,” and the officer on the line is clearly on edge.

Athena Stevens’ character arrives at a London police station late at night. She’s in a wheelchair and is soaked through thanks to the seemingly incessant rainfall outside. The tension in the room is immediate. And the circumstances of her arrest are murky — and at this stage, it’s unclear whether we’re witnessing a confession, a plea for help, or something else entirely.

I loved the simple yet unsettling concept the plot revolves around: the woman claims she can see people’s future diagnoses in the form of glowing words that appear above their heads, revealing when and how they will fall physically or mentally ill. When she notices a countdown above a woman’s head in a bar, she acts on instinct, and that’s how she finds herself here in the interrogation room.

The play unfolds across two timelines: the present-day police interview and a series of recounted memories of what Stevens’ character has seen as part of her day job flying drones through the London Underground to detect structural damage. Through these moments, we begin to understand the fear she carries — and the chilling events she believes are about to unfold. The script is tightly constructed, revealing just enough in the 50-minute runtime to keep you leaning in, wanting to know whether this character’s dark prediction will come to fruition.

The set is stark and stripped back — a bare interview room with the orange glow of a streetlamp filtering through the blinds. A projector beams live footage of the interview onto the back wall, occasionally warping and distorting in sync with the varying levels of lighting and intensifying soundtrack. The effect is unnerving, echoing the character’s own sense of sensory overload and distortion — giving the audience an insight into the stress of being interrogated while already in distress.

Though the main focus is the dynamic between Stevens and Ché Walker as the lead officer — whose dismissiveness borders on cruelty — there are two other characters present. Another officer, played by Ted Walliker and the person behind the camera who hovers in the periphery throughout.

Stevens is electric, delivering a performance full of tension, vulnerability and authentic desperation. Walker’s portrayal of the officer is excellent too. We see how his clipped tone and institutionalised indifference soften by the end of the play - but does this happen too late?

DIAGNOSIS is one of the most original and thought-provoking plays I’ve seen this year. It explores belief, trauma and mental health while holding up a mirror to the ways the state responds to people in moments of crisis — particularly those who are vulnerable or disabled. It asks: what happens when your truth is inconvenient, incomprehensible, or simply too easy to ignore?

Performances of DIAGNOSIS continue at Finborough Theatre until Saturday 7th June. Click here for more information, to check avaliability and book tickets.

Estelle Luck

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one person.

My ticket for this performance of Diagnosis was gifted by Finborough Theatre who invited me to watch the show on behalf of Pink Prince Theatre in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.

CAST LIST:

Athena Stephens as She; Ché Walker as Officer Terry; Ted Walliker as Rookie

RUNNING TIME (approx):

50 minutes, with no interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Strong language; Refrences to sexual assult; Flashing lights; Loud sounds

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