DOGSTAR
Hampstead Theatre
★★★
“Imaginative, thought provoking and a bit bizarre”
About two thirds of the way through Daisy Hall’s new play “Dogstar”, which charts the course of three whalers during an endless polar night, we hear the sound of the Arctic ice cracking which sets the boat free from its frozen confinement. It could also be, though, the sound cue that steers the play’s narrative away its intended course, sending it into deeper and more baffling waters with a dramatic U-turn in events. What starts out as a psychological drama, with sharp splinters of comedy, becomes a supernatural tale that leaves us all a bit at sea. Describing her writing, Hall recently said in an interview that she sometimes ‘puts people in situations and works out what the play is about later’. It seems that the latter part of that claim has been assigned to the audience this time.
Yet she has a wonderfully distinct style that draws us into the atmospheric world she creates. “Dogstar” is the name of the nineteenth century whaling ship that has been trapped in the ice for some months. Most of the crew have died; the remaining few waiting for the ice to melt so they can go home. We are below deck, in the wood-fired engine room outside the captain’s (a drunken figure whom we never see) office. The sense of claustrophobia hangs thick in the air, flattened and made more dense under the low wooden beams of Hannah Schmidt’s effectively confined set. Young seafarer Sam (Abdul Jalloh) sits alone in a Beckettian trance until interrupted by Gorey (Adam Rojko Vega) who drags him into Hall’s sharp dialogue that is simultaneously bleak, existential, slightly dark but frequently funny. Joined by the elder harpooner, Babben (Justin Edwards), the dynamics intensify as the personalities clash – ebbing and flowing like shoals of fish outmanoeuvring a much larger, more dangerous, predator.
Lucy Morrison’s direction reflects the containment, as the actors and their lines push against the walls. Thematically we are in many places: Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’, Scott’s Antarctic, Hitchcock’s ‘Lifeboat’, David Fincher’s ‘Panic Room’, or even Cuarón’s ‘Gravity’. Hall’s text frequently veers away from its period setting, with anachronisms and a language that is quite modern. The camaraderie and rivalry is neatly expressed, and we can see the effects of close captivity clearly, as patience and sanity are stretched to the limit. The mutinous cynicism of Rojko Vega’s Corey is offset by the officiousness of Jalloh’s nervy Sam – who has no filter between his thoughts and speech (“I don’t imply – I don’t know how”). Edwards’ world-weary Babben suffers from survivor’s guilt and a need for self-sacrifice. We almost expect him to exit at one point declaring that “… I may be some time”. It is a thread that Hall’s writing picks up on, albeit somewhat more dramatically.
The play works best in the realms of reality. The trio give remarkable performances, illustrating the well-rounded characters while giving us a vivid picture of their backstories. As a kind of ‘ghost comedy’, the humour and the tension sit comfortably together, neither overshadowing the other. The shadows are created by Holly Ellis’ atmospheric lighting, enhanced by the creaks and cracks of Anna Short’s portentous sound design. A blinding flash subverts everything, but even well before that, the drifting into surrealism unchains the play from its anchor. It is climactic but disorienting.
Imaginative, thought provoking and a bit bizarre, “Dogstar” is a bracing breath of fresh air, but it could do with having a somewhat clearer idea of where it is heading.
DOGSTAR
Hampstead Theatre
Reviewed on 9th November 2026
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Pamela Raith
