REVIEW: TENDER @ SOHO THEATRE

🎭 Tender

📍 Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

🗓 Thursday 30th April 2026

⭐️ 4 Stars

ALL FOREPLAY, NO FINISH!

Earlier this week I was back on Dean Street to check out the latest offering at the Soho Theatre - Dave Harris's TENDER. There's been a massive amount of buzz around this one, promising a steamy, boisterous dive into the world of a failing male strip club.

The plot follows "The Dancing Bears" - Trae, Geoff, and Donny - a group of strippers trying to keep their business afloat in the face of a slicker, better-endowed competition down the road. Enter B, the daughter of the club's owner, who turns up to give the place a much-needed overhaul. It's a piece that wants to strip back the layers of masculinity while keeping the energy high, but I left feeling like the "experience" didn't quite live up to the hype.

Let's talk about the vibe. Before you even get into the auditorium, they're doing a lot to set the scene. We had stickers placed over our phone cameras, and we were handed paddles (thumbs up one side, down on the other) and fake dollar bills. The build-up made me think I was walking into something explosive, boundary-pushing, and fully immersive.

Unfortunately, the reality is that it felt a bit like a collection of gimmicks that never really landed. Unless you've shelled out for the front-row "Bear-Pit" seats, those fake notes are pretty much worthless. And the paddles were pretty much redundant. We get a big voiceover at the start explaining how to use them, but we only used them once in the first act, and even then the audience was looking at each other like "Are we doing this now?" Turns out, we were. In the second act, they were used to show a willingness to get on stage, but a simple hand-raise would have done the job.

As for the phone stickers, they created this expectation of perhaps full-frontal nudity, or at least something incredibly explicit. Neither happened. I get that they were trying to create an exclusive "club" atmosphere, but it just heightened expectations to a level the show didn't reach. It felt like a lot of heavy lifting for very little payoff.

Writing-wise, Harris is clearly a talent. The dialogue is punchy, and for the most part, the writing is quite strong. However, it definitely sags as it heads towards the finish line. At two hours and twenty minutes, it feels somewhat overstretched. I couldn't help thinking this would have been a killer 90-minute one-act show. Trimming away the fluff would have kept the emotional core way more focused. Also, there's a weird beat before the interval where I think we're supposed to suspect B is Donny's daughter, but based on what we already knew about the characters, it just didn't make sense.

Thankfully, the cast is absolutely fantastic. They all give really believable, engaging performances. For me, the standout was Dex Lee as Geoff. I just loved his character. He brings humour to everything, and he's such an expressive performer whose facial expressions often said way more than the script did!

But he wasn't the only one shining. Kwami Odoom is great as Trae, bringing a really interesting, anxious-to-please energy to a guy who clearly takes his performance in the bedroom just as seriously as his stage routine. Then you have Darren Bennett as Donny, who brings a much needed "Daddy" wisdom and a palpable sense of repression that adds a real weight to the group dynamic. Completing the quartet is Jessie Mei Li as B. She plays her with such a cool, unflinching presence that you really feel the power shift the moment she walks into the room. How she managed to keep a completely neutral face during the lap dance scene was impressive.

Visually, the set design is relatively basic, but it works. It didn't need to be flashy because Ciarán Cunningham's lighting design was beautifully crafted to shift the mood from the grime of a back office to the neon pulse of the club.

TENDER has a lot of heart and some great performances, but it gets a bit lost in its own theatrics. It's definitely worth seeing, but if you're going, go for the acting and for the script, just don't expect the immersive revolution the pre-show rituals suggest.

Performances continue until Saturday 6th June. CLICK HERE for more information, to check availability, and to book tickets.

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.

My ticket for this performance of Tender was gifted by Soho Theatre 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 LIST:

Kwami Odoom as Trae; Dex Lee as Geoff; Darren Bennett as Donny; Jessie Mei Li as B

RUNNING TIME (approx):

2 hours 20 minutes, including interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Strong and explicit language; Partial nudity; Graphic depictions and conversations about sex; Flashing lights; Haze; Loud music; Blackouts

AGE GUIDELINES:

Strictly 18 +

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