🎭 Text & Delete
📍 Kings Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, Islington, London, N1 1QN
🗓 Sunday 19th February 2023
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On Sunday I was at the Kings Head Theatre in London for the first time where I was invited to review Text & Delete, a brand new play which is the second production from In Her Element.
Text & Delete is a one act play which follows Jess (Ellie Gallimore) and Maudie (Kat Stidston), two strangers who end up sharing a home. They are both from different backgrounds and both have completely different priorities in life which causes friction between them.
Then a secret comes out which reveals a shared past and the two characters turn detectives and work together to piece together the facts of the events which surrounded the death of Jess' brother.
Both actors were convincing and strong in their roles and both at times took on other characters. I especially enjoyed Gallimore playing her characters mother.
The performance space is quite small and unusually shaped (I was sat on a diagonal across the front of the stage) but I thought that the direction by Lydia Sax had taken this into account and it worked very well in the space.
Actually I thought that technically the show was very strong. The lighting, staging and music all working together wonderfully to give a technically good show.
Unfortunately for me, it was the story itself where I found the weaknesses lay in this production. One we'd got into the main part of the story it was actually very good and an interesting idea. The problem was that I felt it took far too long to get to this point. There seemed to be far too much time spent building the characters and their relationship and there were some scenes, such as a club scene, that felt completely unnecessary. For me if a scene doesn't move the story forward I'm not really sure why it's there. This is one of the main reasons for my star rating.
Also some things didn't quite add up. An example of this is that we are told that the brothers death happened 12 years ago, yet when the girls are investigating events we discover that he died in 2013.
I do think however that with some tweaks here and there this play could have a very bright future and am confident that my star rating could improve if I were to see it again.
It's always exciting to discover new writing and new theatre companies and I'm sure that In Her Element are going to be very successful.
Text & Delete has finished performances at Kings Head Theatre but you can catch it at Camden's Etcetera Theatre 9th-13th May and it will also be at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
Neill Kovacic-Clarke
All views are my own and I pride myself on being open, honest and free from influence.
My tickets for this performance were gifted by the producer who invited me to review the production. The fact that my tickets were gifted played no part in my star rating for this review.
In Her Element Theatre Company is based in London and strives to provide paid opportunities to emerging artists. They specialise in new writing and revivals, focusing on work that speaks to our times.
King's Head Theatre is one of the oldest pub theatres in London and has become known as a breeding ground for new talent and great work. A number of productions have transferred from the venue to the West End and renowned actors such as Alan Rickman, Maureen Lipman and Hugh Grant have all performed here.