★★★★

“both bring crisp comic timing and refreshingly layered performances”

Being a woman is hard – so many hidden rules and expectations to navigate. What if you could make all the stress and overthinking disappear? ‘Women Over 30 Don’t Matter’ cracks the patriarchy with AI-powered technology, exposing misogyny in all its guises in this snappy, incisive and wickedly funny new play.

Tasha and Priya couldn’t be more different: Tasha, a clean-eating princess from the States, expects perfection; Priya, a practical South Asian daughter, just wants to be taken seriously. They’re thrown together on a career defining project in London – building an AI driven app called ‘You Go Girl’ – that could finally make the ‘woman with it all’ a reality. However, budding friendship sours when their manipulative male boss’ promises of promotion pits them against each other. Luckily, they soon realise neither the app nor their boss has their backs. Can they break free of the patriarchy? Come see it and find out!

Written and performed by Aishwarya Gaikwad and Carly Hendrick, ‘Women Over 30 Don’t Matter’ is tightly crafted, richly textured and bitingly satirical. Workplace clichés, such as warring women, female tokenism and ‘having it all’, crumble under razor-sharp scrutiny to expose the institutional sexism beneath. Patriarchy, workplace harassment and power abuses are cleverly criticised without feeling didactic – the fact both women are foreigners and yet intimately familiar with male-dominated dynamics speaks volumes. Both women start out as stereotypes but gradually reveal their humanity, balancing satire with introspection. It’s all tightly wrapped in punchy and downright hilarious offstage exchanges. The club scene is a minor weak spot, drifting slightly and lacking a little comedic sparkle, but as a debut play Gaikwad and Hendrick are clearly ones to watch.

Emilia Woodgate’s direction comes out swinging. Voiceover characters have a playful, caricature-esque quality. Super-fast scene changes are packaged in hilariously pointed pre-recorded jokes. The theatre’s vast arch is no wasted space, hosting side splitting slides (try saying that three times fast) that highlight our protagonists’ contrasts and deliver laughs in their own right. Clearer cues would clarify whether the dining table is office or home, and the echoey space demands sharper diction and/or more deliberate pacing in places. However, for what appears to be a directorial debut, Woodgate sets a high standard.

Designer and technician Eliza Jayne wows with an impressive tech script. The lighting design is sharply executed with great comic effect – from a spotlight snapping on unexpectedly in the boardroom, to the coy male-gaze pitch to investors. The sound design is witty and inventive, blending realistic effects with cutting satirical asides. Together these elements build a rich experience, offering enough context to offset the minimalist set. Costumes neatly contrast Tasha’s outward polish with Priya’s practical style, though fittingly both women appear more relaxed in themselves by the end.

Gaikwad and Hendricks give strong performances as Priya and Tasha respectively, complementing each other with heartfelt sincerity on one side and no nonsense straight talk on the other. Hendricks convinces most with sharp characterisation and confident projection, while Gaikwad occasionally falters over lines and could project more in the echoey space. Still, both bring crisp comic timing and refreshingly layered performances. The voiceover actors add hilarity, with Cyril Blake relishing the manipulative Mr. Miller and Sophie Welbourne nailing the sweetly satirical punch of You Go Girl, both showcasing impeccable timing.

‘Women Over 30 Don’t Matter’ is an impressive debut blending cutting wit and punchy design with a surprisingly layered take on womanhood. Make sure you catch this short run while you can!

GOING FOR GOLD at Park Theatre

★★★★

“A gripping and heartfelt true story”

Based on a true story, Going for Gold is a moving retrospective about a British boxing champion’s greatest triumphs and losses, told from the ringside perspective of the woman who loved him.

Yes, there is boxing onstage and you will hear the Rocky theme.

Written by Lisa Lintott, Going for Gold tells the story of two-time National ABA and Commonwealth Games 1974 middleweight champion, Frankie Lucas (Jazz Lintott). Frankie came to London from Saint Vincent as part of the Windrush generation, and we first meet him as a nine-year-old when he joins a boxing club in Croydon. As he trots off, a woman enters and addresses the audience: “I’m not his mother”. This is Gene (Llewella Gideon), who fell in love with Frankie when they were both teenagers and soon after gave birth to their son, Michael (Daniel Francis-Swaby). The immediate break of the fourth wall and the age difference between the actors portraying Gene (50s) and Frankie (30s) tells us that this play is Gene’s memory of her long-term boxer boyfriend. She is our narrator, with Gideon showcasing a natural gravitas that compels the spectator. The play showcases highlights and challenges from Frankie’s life. He valiantly fights against systemic racism to build his sporting legacy in 70s England, but at the expense of his family.

The stage design (Erin Guan) is symbolic of Frankie’s battles outside the boxing ring. We see a living room to the left, a gym office to the right and a boxing ring in the middle. In the left corner is Gene, urging Frankie to come home to see Michael. In the right corner is Frankie’s trainer George (Nigel Boyle), who also urges him to go home to his “missus and son”. In the middle is Frankie whose hunger for success turns into self-sabotaging paranoia. As boxer and trainer, Lintott and Boyle make a fabulous pair. Boyle is exceptional, finding a cool balance between being a stern coach and supportive brother figure. Lintott sometimes struggles with the Saint Vincent accent, but he commands attention with a suave presence and spectacular comedic timing.

The stellar collaboration of the creative team shines during the boxing matches. The play covers Frankie’s greatest fights from 1971 to 1980, executed with excellent movement direction by David Gilbert and fight choreography from Rupert Charmak. What makes the fights impressive, is the clever use of cinematic devices onstage. Here, a knockout is shown in slow-motion, supported by foley boxing sounds (Lo Wu) and strobe lighting (Cheng Keng). A cut-away shot is recreated by jumping between the stage and the projector. The projector shows us archival footage of the real Frankie Lucas fighting in the ring. Lights come on, and we see Frankie falling onto his corner stool onstage. This allows the audience to become immersed in both the public spectacle of boxing and the private moments between boxer and trainer.

The play’s only real issue comes at the end. Frankie and Michael have a conversation that rushes to get key plot points across to the audience before the ending. The unnatural pace (which is at odds with Philip J Morris and Xanthus’ otherwise spot on direction) prevents the moment from having the emotional impact the play seeks in the final scene. Despite this, the story has a satisfying ending. The show’s star is Llewella Gideon who seamlessly navigates between being present onstage and addressing the audience, thus delivering a stunning performance.

A gripping and heartfelt true story about a boxer who was forgotten by history but championed by his family, Going for Gold makes for an insightful and exciting evening at the theatre.

WOMEN OVER 30 DON’T MATTER

The Space

★★★★

“both bring crisp comic timing and refreshingly layered performances”

WOMEN OVER 30 DON’T MATTER

The Space

Reviewed on 6th November 2025

by Hannah Bothelton

Previously reviewed at this venue:

WOMEN OVER

WOMEN OVER

WOMEN OVER

GOING FOR GOLD at Park Theatre

★★★★

“A gripping and heartfelt true story”

GOING FOR GOLD at Park Theatre

Reviewed on 12th November 2024

by Lara van Huyssteen

Photography by James Potter

Previously reviewed at this venue:

GOING FOR GOLD

GOING FOR GOLD

JOIN US