★★★½

“a brave piece of theatre”

An Instinct is an inside look into coercive control, manipulation and makes you question everything. Littered with moments of shock, suspense and humour this play really takes you on a journey to an alternate experience of our once lived lockdown days.

Written by Hugo Timbrell, we are transported back to the beginning of COVID, to a cabin in the middle of the woods where we find ex lovers Max (Conor Dumbrell) and Charlie (Ben Norris) who have reunited to face isolation together.

Dumbrell and Norris are great at setting the tone and mood immediately. We see two people figuring out a situation together, but as we are drip fed information, we start to question everything presented to us. As we watch our main characters battle with trust, loyalty and the lack of both, we as an audience also ask the same questions and battle with the reality being played out. By the time our third player, Tom (Joe Walsham) enters the scene – there is a strong desire for the truth amongst the characters and audience alike.

Timbrell has created a brave piece of theatre here. There is a real understanding for how manipulation, gaslighting and passive aggressiveness play out without being biased. You are shown all sides of a story and are left to make your own judgements. He makes large, bold choices in the dynamics of the plot, with light comedy appearing throughout. The writing is very clever, clear and consistent – keeping you hooked in the twists and turns.

An Instinct is a thriller which can sometimes be a tricky genre, especially with the pressure of being able to lure your audience into anticipation ready to be thrilled. There are a couple of jump scare moments that can catch any audience member unaware, and we are pulled into a very unstable environment that is rife with mistrust. However there are also moments where the play runs the risk of being awkward.

The actors do well to sustain character and drive the plot through its highs and lows, but it’s a hard job to keep the suspense of a thriller, especially in theatre without the glitz and glamour of TV and film tricks. This pressure was almost too much for our actors at times. This didn’t take too much away from the play, and didn’t leave a bad taste, in fact it was a fun experience and audiences can take something away from it.

Director Lucy Foster delivered superbly. The transitions, the use of space and blocking of the actors are flawless and really lets us into their world by reinforcing that fourth wall and giving us a real “fly on a wall” experience. The sound (Julian Starr) and lighting (Caelan Oram) really supports the realism of the whole production and all the tricks and effects are used perfectly. Well worth seeing.

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him”

If you’re a playwright and your closest friend is an actor, what is the best birthday present you can think of? A few years ago, Nick Dawkins hit upon the idea of writing a play for his bestie – Tom Claxton – who at the time was studying at LAMDA. He filled the script with “the things we loved, the music, dancing, jokes and in jokes” and presented it to him on his birthday. A wonderful gesture. But little did he know that just a few years later it would be an even greater gift for the theatre going public. Dawkins’ sixty-minute one hander is a compellingly written monologue, spectacularly well-crafted and wrapped up in Claxton’s engrossing performance.

“A Manchester Anthem” is a mix of autobiography and biography with oodles of artistic licence thrown in, which makes it instantly relatable, even if you don’t share the background of its protagonist. Claxton plays Tommy (and a dozen other characters, but we’ll come to that), a working-class Mancunian who has been accepted into Oxford. He is the first in his family to go to university. The first in his street in fact. The play charts his final day and night before he heads down south to begin his new life.

It is Tommy’s final shift as a waiter and, just as he is about to clock off for the last time, a couple of posh and privileged school mates wander in for their skinny, soya, lattes. They are a world apart from Tommy and, in his eyes, represent the world he is about to enter. It fills him with feelings of trepidation and imposter syndrome but nevertheless he accepts an invitation to a house party that night (spurred on by encouraging words from his real mates). What follows is a high energy tsunami ride from the coffee shop to the clubs, and through the streets, houses and people at each end of the class spectrum. From the moment we first see Claxton, elastically writhing to N-Joi’s ‘Anthen’ wearing bright orange underpants, we suspect we are in for something different. On the surface, this rite of passage story has more than a shade of familiarity. There are moments when it treads that path, but the observant writing is fresh enough to veer away from its own genre.

Claxton immediately has us in the palm of his hand – and he keeps us there. A finely nuanced performance, he slips easily into the other characters with subtle precision and expert timing. His supercilious boss at the café, the posh boys, the pseudo-socialist girls, his down-to-earth-bordering-on-psychotic mates, his estranged father… and so on. The various locations are seamlessly evoked, too, courtesy of Anna Niamh Gorman’s ingeniously simple cardboard box set that symbolises the packing away of an old life, but later transforms and lights up to evoke Manchester’s clubland. Sam Baxter’s soundtrack and Caelan Oram’s lighting set each time and place in stone, while Izzy Edwards’ masterful and lively direction leaves no time for anything to be set anywhere. It is a fast-paced production, but every moment counts – and some of the best lines hang in the air, frozen for a moment for us to relish, before being swept back into the thrilling momentum of the play.

Without being a social commentary, the show mirrors aspects of society and class divide. Tommy has more chips on his shoulder than the local chippie, but there is no anger. In its place is intelligent analysis, and a fearful empathy. The various characters are soft targets. The real victim of Dawkins’ writing is society at large and the unfairness of its inbuilt hierarchies. Tommy’s greatest fear is that of betraying his origins. The fact that these issues can be dressed up in humour is testament to Claxton’s fine acting and interpretation of the text.

The final moments are quite moving. It doesn’t end with a bang. Nor a whimper. But something in between which touches us with emotional honesty. Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him. Tommy might fear rejection, but “A Manchester Anthem” has no need to share that feeling. A real gift of a show.

Tag Archives: Caelan Oram

AN INSTINCT

★★★½

Old Red Lion Theatre

AN INSTINCT

Old Red Lion Theatre

★★★½

“a brave piece of theatre”

AN INSTINCT

Old Red Lion Theatre

Reviewed on 19th November 2025

by Paige Wilson-Lawrence

Photography by Craig Fuller

Previously reviewed at this venue:

CURATING | ★★ | November 2025

DEATH BELLES | ★★★½ | October 2025

FRAT | ★★ | May 2025

EDGING | ★★★ | September 2023

THIS IS NORMAL | ★★★★ | September 2023

AN INSTINCT

AN INSTINCT

AN INSTINCT

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

★★★★

Riverside Studios

A MANCHESTER ANTHEM

Riverside Studios

★★★★

“Tommy is a flawed character, but the play he finds himself in is a pretty faultless portrayal of him”