REVIEW: KING:MAN @ GOLDEN GOOSE THEATRE

🎭 King:Man

📍 Golden Goose Theatre, 146 Camberwell New Road, London, SE5 0RR

🗓 Saturday 18th April 2026

⭐️ 4 Stars

SHORT, SHARP, AND STRANGE!

Let's be real. Sometimes you walk into a fringe space and you just know you're about to witness something that'll make your brain itchy in all the right ways. That's exactly what DrED has delivered with KING:MAN. This is their first professional outing, and honestly, it's weird! Like, properly weird, but in that delicious "what on earth am I watching?" kind of way that makes London theatre so vibrant.

At a punchy 35 minutes, we're thrown into a chaotic, circus-infused pressure cooker. The premise is an absolute trip. A "volunteer" writer is essentially hijacked and forced to perform and pen a masterpiece on the fly. It's a literal representation of the creative process - violent, hilarious, and deeply stressful.

We watch this writer grapple with their own anxieties, and as the performance unfolds, the mask slips to reveal some pretty heavy hitting themes. It's a clever nod to the struggle of being an artist in 2026 - the constant battle between your passion and the soul-crushing reality of social expectations, and an economy that's currently obsessed with AI and cutting arts funding.

Performance-wise, El X. Speziali is an absolute standout. She plays this jester-ringmaster hybrid with a charisma that is genuinely magnetic. She's got this underlying edge of evil lurking just beneath the surface, yet she manages to charm the pants off the audience whilst undeniably unnerving them.

Daria Gorbonosova is brilliant as the writer, giving us a masterclass in frantic fear and absolute commitment, while Jack Torres manages to be quietly terrifying as a silent clown who says everything without uttering a single word.

This production is a little rough around the edges, but if I'm honest, that's where the magic lies. It's kooky energy and rough-and-ready vibe actually complement the dark, heavy themes. I spent the whole show wondering who this mysterious "King" was. I was imagining some grand figure waiting in the wings, only for the penny to drop that we, the audience, are King. We are the ones being served, the ones demanding to be entertained at the cost of the artist's sanity.

My only real gripe is that it was too short! At 35 minutes, I was left wanting a second course. There is so much room here to expand and explore this world. To be honest, it's like nothing else I've seen lately, which makes it a nightmare to describe, but a dream to watch.

Keep the name DrED on your radar because if this is just the beginning, we're in for a very exciting, very strange ride.

Neill Kovacic-Clarke

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 reviewer.  

My ticket for this performance of King:Man was gifted by DrED who invited me to watch the show 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:

Daria Gorbonosova; El X. Speziali; Jack Torres

RUNNING TIME (approx):

35 minutes, with no interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Clowns; Suicide; Death; Sex; Physical abuse; Mental abuse; Poor mental health; Grief

AGE RECOMMENDATION:

18 +

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