TELL ME
The Place
★★★★
“imaginative and full of striking choices”
Forty-five years on from the AIDS crisis, HIV still carries significant stigma despite being fully treatable. Fresh from its 2025 world premiere, ‘Tell Me’ arrives in London determined to challenge outdated misconceptions. Blending circus, dance and theatre, it’s tender yet unflinching, offering hope without compromising honesty. Even in its evolving form, its 2026 tour demands attention – it might just save a life.
It’s 2026 and Grace receives a diagnosis she never imagined – HIV. Through modern eyes, we reach back to those who endured the 1980s AIDS crisis, honouring their legacy while confronting lingering misconceptions and looking towards a more hopeful future.
Produced by Turtle Key Arts, Sadiq Ali Company unveils a new iteration of ‘Tell Me’, devised by Sadiq Ali (the Company’s Artistic Director), Phoebe Knight and Jonah Russell, with dramaturgy by Rishi Trikha and choreography consultancy from Jonathan Lunn and Junior Cunningham. The potent blend of Chinese pole, aerial, dance and theatre feels effortlessly cohesive. Circus elements add real jeopardy: a standout moment involves Ali slipping from a cube with no safety – a gripping image of turmoil and struggle. The sparing use of speech lands with real weight, with cheers, grunts and quiet sobs conveying rare realism for a dance led work. Queer joy sits exactly where it should, celebrating life alongside pain.
That said, the narrative could be clearer. A plastic shroud reads like misinformed 1980s post-mortem practices, making Ali’s later scenes feel like new characters rather a continuous arc. A demonic figure’s surreal demeanour clashes with the otherwise grounded tone. The past–present contrast could go further: the modern day arc feels less defined, and the masked doctor’s blunt delivery of Grace’s diagnosis undercuts the idea of improved care. Overall, though, there’s powerful work here.
Devised by Ali, Knight and Russell, with associate direction from Hauk Pattison, the show is confidently steered. The opening sequence of pulsing, spinning Chinese pole cages lands with real force, immediately establishing a visual language that becomes a character in its own right. The final, gentler montage serves as a homecoming. The storytelling feels authentic (demonic detour aside), and the inventive use of Chinese poles as set and apparatus brings the world to life. That said, a couple of scenes could be tightened, such as Grace’s languid penultimate scene, and one bit of blocking distractingly places Ali and Russell behind moving set. Overall though the direction is imaginative and full of striking choices.
Ali, Knight and Russell deliver emotionally charged performances, moving authentically between joy, anguish and everything in between. Ali is especially magnetic, offering a masterful mix of strength, subtlety and emotional depth. Knight and Russell deliver thoughtful, affecting performances while pulling off impressive physical feats, though a couple of moments could be tightened to maintain the intentionality behind the rawness.
Aslı Özüak’s scenography has a stark, elegant simplicity, letting the Chinese poles command the space as they come to life. The nested cube design is inspired, shifting between set, cage and shelter, and tiny cubes as HIV diagnoses are a brilliant touch. Özüak’s costumes are sharply judged and drive the narrative. The 80s looks are effortlessly chic, and red for the HIV awareness ribbon threads thoughtfully through. The only less assured moment is the overly contrasting devil. Guy Veale’s sound design is potent, creating a sharply attuned and vivid soundscape that balances realism, abstraction, cheekiness and sobriety. A couple of transitions land slightly late, but the overall execution is strong. Jamie Heseltine’s lighting is beautifully judged with a keen instinct for when to let darkness speak. Light searching through shadow is especially evocative, and bold touches – a burst of strobe, a backlit smoke box – add real texture.
Though still evolving, ‘Tell Me’ tackles its subject with a maturity and tenderness that already resonate deeply. I’m excited to see how it develops and highly recommend catching it on tour.
TELL ME
The Place
Reviewed on 23rd January 2026
by Hannah Bothelton
Photography by Alberto Santos Bellido
