DOGS ON THE METRO

Live Theatre

★★★★★

“a clever, meaningful, and essential piece of theatre”

‘Dogs on the Metro’ at the Live Theatre is a precise and important reflection on adolescence, friendship, and consent. Masterfully written by Emilie Robson and directed by Maria Crocker, this personal two-hander is a force to be reckoned with, over it’s quick-paced and concise 60-minute course.

The show follows the fluctuating friendship of Jen (Sarah Balfour) and Dean (Dean Logan) and explores how boundaries can be pushed and taken to their limits as the two grow up together. Robson has created deeply fascinating and complex characters whose world and views the audience become quickly invested with. She creates a very tactile world with her language where “skin is made of needles” and the “room is made of balloons” and leaves the audience gasping for air from beginning to end.

The ambiguity of Jen and Dean’s relationship and their conflict hits every note, and pack punches as Balfour and Logan deliver every heart-wrenching moment with deep sincerity. Balfour’s confusion, frustration, and inner conflict feels wholly genuine, as does Logan’s characterisation of insecurity and immaturity. Both have a chilling chemistry and power to command the audience’s entire attention to their self-doubt and discomfort, conjuring goosebumps with the drop of hat.

One of the shining features of the piece is its deft connection to its place and time. ‘Dogs on the Metro’ is set mostly between metro carriages and house parties in Newcastle and utilises its clarity and ambiguity of destination to its fullest. Robson remarkably and gorgeously integrates Geordie dialect and place into a piece which reflects broader culture around platonic intimacy, gender, and boundaries. The characters and their familiarity with one another and their journey to and from home, school, and friend’s houses works so well amongst the murkiness of the story Jen urgently tries to take ownership of. As the non-linear story fractures and unfolds, the unreliability of the narration becomes more and more intriguing, and paints an impactful and deep-cutting message surrounding consent. The audience is led to trust and distrust as the plot thickens, and Crocker’s beautiful direction of the non-chronological structure does well to keep pace with the uncertainty and double meaning which the script dances with. For example, when Jen and Dean open the story, crossing over each other, it feels instantly playful and youthful; as the story develops, this technique takes on a fascinating new meaning around manipulation of narratives and truth.

It is hard to understate how complete ‘Dogs on the Metro’ feels. The script and the actors constantly flit around images, anecdotes, and ideas; none of which are wasted. ‘Dogs on the Metro’ feels wholly thought-through and tight. This goes for all aspects of design, too. From Amy Watts’ metro carriage set design which is creatively shifted between scenes to cage the characters into a claustrophobic atmosphere, to Drummond Orr’s sharp and engaging lighting design which emulates the flash a metro hurtling through a tunnel as well as an awkward early 2010s house party. Matthew Tuckey’s sound design is particularly entrancing and works electrically with the script to enhance sinister and tense moments. The crash of the metro carriage crescendoing with Balfour’s anger and upset, is an especially tactful way of exploring the ambiguity, anxiety, and self-doubt Jen experiences. All of these elements working together so firmly is utterly breath-taking.

‘Dogs on the Metro’ is a clever, meaningful, and essential piece of theatre, exploring consent and adolescence with beautiful clarity and intention.

DOGS ON THE METRO

Live Theatre

Reviewed on 6th May 2025

by Molly Knox

Photography by Von Fox Promotions

DOGS ON THE METRO

HEDDA GABLER at the Reading Rep Theatre

★★★★★

“a thrillingly inventive show, with strong and engaging performances from every cast member”

The programme promises an ‘electric’ performance ‘steeped in queer rage exploring how the most famous female character of all time is trapped within a life chosen for her’. This off-putting hyperbole shouldn’t stop you rushing to see this terrific re-imagining of Ibsen’s famous 1891 masterpiece.

Turn-of-the-century Norway has become present day London in Harriet Madeley’s sassy new play which is a co-production with A Girl Called Stephen Theatre, which has as its mission ‘queer/womxn led theatre for Reading and beyond’. The script is sharp and witty with heaps of semi-poetic dialogue that includes a knowing line about White Company bedlinen and another about school mums with ‘puffa coats and keep cups’. In this production there’s also clever use of a pair of microphones that heighten the audience’s appreciation of key passages of dialogue.

The cast of five is directed by Annie Kershaw. She has put together a thrillingly inventive show, with strong and engaging performances from every cast member. Anna Popplewell fizzes with magnificent frustration as Hedda, stuck in a new marriage with an innocent young academic called George. This may be her first stage role, but she has distinguished film and TV credits including the Chronicles of Narnia for Disney and Love in a Cold Climate for the BBC.

Mark Desebrock’s George (Globe on Tour, Beauty and the Beast at NT and many more) is likeably naïve and a perfect foil to Hedda. Ryan Gerald makes George’s publisher Brack a vividly gangling wide-boy. George’s former male colleague and new rival Eilert Lövborg has become Hedda’s lover Isla in this show. She’s played with energy and conviction by Jessica Temple (Peter Pan, National Theatre and roles at Nottingham and Bristol). Natalie Perera strikes just the right note for Thea, Isla’s slightly goofy and foolish lover and co-worker.

Designer Amy Watts has devised a striking set with a deep well almost like a boxing ring at its centre. The simple design enables some impressively creative lighting design by Murong Li. The sound design by Jamie Lu is similarly smart, with some subtle atmospheric sounds that ramp up the tension just when it is needed.

In the thrilling second half, the light-hearted verbal fisticuffs shift up several gears. To escape her trap, Hedda must ‘do something beautiful’. An impressive denouement is achieved at speed and with the shocking impact of the best classical tragedy.

Tag Archives: Amy Watts

DOGS ON THE METRO

★★★★★

Live Theatre

DOGS ON THE METRO

Live Theatre

★★★★★

“a clever, meaningful, and essential piece of theatre”