REVIEW: THE OLIVE BOY @ SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

🎭 The Olive Boy

📍 The Little, Southwark Playhouse,  77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD

🗓 Friday 16th January 2026

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

RAW, RIOTOUS, AND RESPLENDENTLY REAL

Walking into the intimate confines of the Southwark Playhouse Borough on a wet January night, I expected a coming-of-age story. What Ollie Maddigan delivers in THE OLIVE BOY is something far more profound; a visceral, lightning-bolt of a performance that captures the clumsy, painful, and often absurd choreography of grief.

Maddigan, who both wrote and stars in this solo tour-de-force, has a stage presence that is nothing short of electric. He portrays his fifteen-year-old self with a vulnerability that is stripped bare, navigating the wreckage of his mother's sudden passing with a shield of frantic, adolescent bravado.

It is a masterclass in tonal tightrope walking. One moment we are howling at the cringe-inducing mechanics of a teenage boy trying - and failing - to find a girlfriend, and the next the air is sucked out of the room by a sudden, sharp realisation of loss.

The script is a gem of British writing, echoing the sharp witted grit of a modern classic. Maddigan find the "funny" in the most unlikely places such as the sterility of a therapist's office (voiced with a perfectly detached warmth by Ronni Ancona) and the awkward re-introduction to an estranged father. It's a story about the messy intersections of masculinity and mourning, showing us that sometimes the only way to survive the unthinkable is to laugh through the tears.

One thing we are all guaranteed to experience in our lifetime is grief, and watching the protagonist here navigate his way through to acceptance is one of the purest things I have witnessed for a long time. Seeing him masking and angering on his journey drew parallels with my own experience of grieving the loss of my own mother, although I was a lot older than the character here.

What makes THE OLIVE BOY truly sing is its lack of contrivance. There are no grand metaphors here. Just the messy, olive stained reality of a boy trying to find his footing while the world shifts beneath him. It's a production that feels deeply personal yet universal. A testament to the power of storytelling as a means of survival.

This is what makes theatre special to me. To see a soul laid bare with such craft and charisma that I leave feeling a little more human. Maddigan has an undeniable hit on his hands that is as heartbreaking as it is hilarious. Believe me when I say you don't want to miss this. It may only be January, but this is already a strong contender for show of the year.

THE OLIVE BOY continues performances in The Little at Southwark Playhouse Borough until Saturday 31st January. Run, don't walk, to grab your tickets. This one will stay with me for a long time.

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 The Olive Boy was gifted by GingerBread Agency 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. 

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY:

Ollie Maddigan

RUNNING TIME (approx):

1 hour 15 minutes, with no interval

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Strong language, vomiting, and loud noises. References to death, mental health, grief, pornographic content, drugs, and sexism. Death and sexism depicted on stage.

AGE RECOMMENDATION:

14 +

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