REVIEW: RIDE THE CYCLONE @ SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE ELEPHANT

🎭 Ride The Cyclone

📍  Southwark Playhouse Elephant, 1 Dante Place, London, SE11 4RX

🗓 Wednesday 1st July 2026

⭐️ 2 Stars

A BUMPY RIDE

I was fully planning on having a quiet, sensible night at home on the sofa last night. But when a friend messaged me asking if I wanted to join her for RIDE THE CYCLONE, a show I’ve wanted to see for absolute ages, and which happens to be playing just a 15-minute walk from my front door, how could I possibly refuse?

I eagerly headed down to the Southwark Playhouse Elephant, full of anticipation. Upon taking my seat, I have to say I was immediately impressed with the set design. It is wonderfully eerie, dressed up like a dilapidated, overgrown amusement park that has been completely reclaimed by nature and time. There are jagged tracks twisting into the shadows, broken carnival lights, and a beautifully macabre, dusty atmosphere that perfectly sets the mood for a dark story.

For those who don't know the setup, the plot follows six members of a Canadian high school chamber choir who tragically perish when a rickety roller-coaster track snaps. They wake up in a supernatural, rundown warehouse limbo. There, they are greeted by a mechanical fortune-teller machine named The Amazing Karnak, who informs them that they are dead, but he can grant just one of them the chance to return to life. The catch? They have to compete in a macabre talent show, and then take a vote on who gets the ultimate prize.

I was really looking forward to watching this after its massive success last year, and let's be honest, no one loves a musical more than me. But I have to say that I was bitterly disappointed. To be frank, the writing was terrible - possibly the worst written piece of theatre I've seen this year. I think it was trying to be profound, but rather than offering any real depth, everything felt incredibly surface level, and quite honestly, I was bored.

There seems to be zero story progression, and the piece feels less like a narrative musical and more like a glorified song cycle. The problem is that each character only gets a very short amount of time in the spotlight to deliver their "audition" number, meaning that there is simply no chance to get under their skin, understand them, and actually connect with them. The novelty of this formula quickly wore off, and started to annoy me. I literally began giving the characters numbers in my head, counting up to number 6 just to track the time. Truth be told, I was willing it to end, and had there been an interval, it's highly likely that I wouldn't have returned for the second act.

It is as if each character has been deliberately created to be in some way completely abnormal. You have Ocean, the insufferably toxic over-achiever; Mischa, the aggressively angry Ukrainian rap-obsessed adoptee, and Ricky, the selectively mute boy who copes with a degenerative disease by escaping into space-age cat fantasies. But instead of feeling quirky, it just came across as a weird fever dream. It is as if the creatives have thrown way too many ideas at one production, and it just didn't gel for me.

Then you have the utterly baffling inclusion of Jane Doe, a character who truly made no narrative sense whatsoever. We are told she died in the exact same roller-coaster accident as the others, yet while the rest of the choir roam limbo as normal teenagers, she is bizarrely depicted on stage as this creepy, disjointed puppet. I understand the writing tries to justify this by saying the other kids didn't know her, but it felt like a cheap gimmick that completely alienated her from the rest of the group. To make matters worse, the mechanics of the ending are as clear as mud. When she is ultimately chosen to get her life back, the production leaves you entirely in the dark about how this resurrection actually works. She was decapitated in the crash - so exactly HOW is she being given her life back? Are we supposed to believe her head was magically reattached to her body, or were we watching a depiction of her being literally reborn as a baby to grow up and start her life all over again? It’s a frustratingly vague conclusion to a character that already felt like she belonged in a completely different show.

It has to be said that the younger members of the audience seemed to really love this musical. The characters are all around 17 years old, so for an audience of that exact age, maybe there's a bit more for them to connect to. But for me personally, I quickly became irritated with the whole proceedings.

Although initially striking, it also quickly became obvious that the set was not actually built for this specific venue. The character of Karnak was positioned far too high up on the stage for a space this size. It created a massive visual disconnect for anyone sitting in the stalls as I was, leaving me straining my neck just to look up at the main narrator.

Talking of the technicalities, the lighting design was actually really good, and the sound design was brilliant. Other shows seem to notoriously struggle with the sound mix in this particular venue, but there were absolutely no issues with this production - everything was crystal clear.

The main saving grace of the show was the cast, who really did a stellar job with such poor material. My absolute standout performance of the night came from Josh Butler as Noel. He completely commands the stage during his cabaret number, channeling this deliciously camp, tragic, Marlene Dietrich-esque persona with incredible vocals and sharp comic timing. Having seen Butler in a few different productions now, I think he is genuinely one of the most exciting young performers in London right now. I cannot wait to see what he does next, and I’d absolutely love to see him leading a major West End show one day.

Another notable performance came from the always fabulous Divina De Campo. Playing the mechanical fortune teller The Amazing Karnak, she brings a brilliant, eerie stillness and a wonderfully biting, deadpan wit to the role. Hidden away inside the booth, she anchors the show with fantastic vocal control and that signature, mesmerising stage presence we all love, doing everything she can to breathe life into the mechanical puppet. It's a shame that she feels somewhat underused.

It’s just unfortunate that the material beneath this talented cast couldn't keep the ride on the tracks.

If you want to make up your own mind about this show, it's playing until Saturday 22nd August. CLICK HERE for more information and to book tickets. RIDE THE CYCLONE already has a cult fanbase, and I'm sure that even though it wasn't for me, it will continue to do well.

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 person.

CAST LIST:

Divina De Campo as The Amazing Karnak; Josh Butler as Noel; Rebecca D'Lacey as Ocean; Grace Galloway as Jane Doe; Robyn Gilbertson as Constance; Bartek Kraszewski as Mischa; Jack Maverick as Ricky

RUNNING TIME (approx):

1 hour 30 minutes, with no interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Adult themes; Strong language; Sexual references; References to death; References to drug use; Flashing lights; Haze; Loud music

AGE GUIDANCE:

12+

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