CHOIR

Minerva Theatre

★★½

“has warmth and energy but is held back by its uneven tone and sketchy characterisation”

Community, chaos and catchy tunes collide in Choir, though not always in harmony. Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s new comedy with music, directed by Hannah Joss, aims to be a feel-good celebration of connection and belonging but delivers an uneven evening populated by characters who often feel one-dimensional and overly caricatured.

At the centre is Morgan (Laura Checkley), who runs a small-town community choir in a pub’s upstairs room. They meet weekly to rehearse pop songs, drink and find space to be versions of themselves beyond their regular lives. The play follows the week leading up to a fundraising gig, which takes an unexpected turn when a TV producer offers the choir a chance to perform on national television, an opportunity Morgan seizes to put them on the map.

Morgan’s own description of her singers as having “seven different personalities” is telling. Everyone is different, with lives beyond the choir: Paul (James Gillan), a former West End performer now reduced to local radio voiceovers; Anna (Danusia Samal), whose composed exterior masks private struggles; Ken (Timothy Speyer), a sunny optimist despite a track record of underachievement; Esther (Danielle Henry) and Joy (Alison Fitzjohn), “best friends” whose relationship thrives on constant point-scoring; and Sheila (Annie Wensak), a compulsive liar whose fabrications are delivered with unapologetic flair. Late to the mix is Freddie (Keenan Munn-Francis), the young talent they’re fundraising for, whose arrival shifts the dynamic and unsettles the group. In theory, this variety could be a strength; in practice, the characters remain underdeveloped and the personal revelations feel more engineered than earned.

The show alternates between rehearsal scenes, where the singing is deliberately off-key or hesitant (well executed as such) and fantasy sequences where the choir sounds polished and professional. This framing device gives the performers the chance to shine vocally: Gillan’s soaring rendition of Queen’s Somebody to Love, Samal’s smoky take on Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and Munn-Francis’s heartfelt Nothing Compares 2 U are standout moments.

Alison Fitzjohn and Annie Wensak share most of the comic thunder, though in very different styles – Fitzjohn with dry, deadpan barbs and Wensak delivering audacious one-liners and scene-stealing entrances. Danielle Henry as Esther adds a quieter, sharper presence, blending vulnerability with subtle tension in her friendship with Joy. Laura Checkley’s Morgan, while central, feels somewhat one-note, limiting the character’s emotional arc. Though the cast’s comic timing is strong, performances often lean toward broad stereotypes rather than nuance. Speyer (Ken), Gillan (Paul) and Munn-Francis (Freddie) carry the most sustained emotional beats, but the delivery often follows the rhythm of scripted dialogue rather than the natural ebb and flow of genuine conversation, a reflection of Bhatti’s script, which hints at something more meaningful but too often resorts to easy laughs and predictable plot turns. Joss, in her directorial debut, maintains pace but doesn’t fully bridge these divides or allow character arcs to develop.

Designer Anisha Fields’ pub function room set is exactly what you’d expect, transforming into a neon-lit diva stage for the fantasy sequences – a shift echoed by Jai Morjaria’s lighting moving from pub warmth to spotlight glamour. Fields also designs the costumes, which convincingly reflect the characters’ personalities and add an extra layer of texture and comedy to the production. Alexandra Faye Braithwaite’s sound design and Rich Forbes’ arrangements, supported by Musical Director Michael Henry, inject vitality into the music. These pop moments lift the atmosphere, suggesting what Choir might achieve if the writing matched its musical flair.

Choir has warmth and energy but is held back by its uneven tone and sketchy characterisation. The cast brings commitment and charm, hinting at stories the script never fully explores. Ultimately, it feels like a choir warming up – full of promise, but not yet in harmony.

CHOIR

Minerva Theatre

Reviewed on 8th August 2025

by Ellen Cheshire

Photography by Helen Murray

Previous Chichester Festival reviews:

TOP HAT | ★★★★ | July 2025

THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR | ★★★★ | May 2025

REDLANDS | ★★★★ | September 2024

CHOIR

★★★★

“Samal’s smart, insightful script cares deeply about its characters”

Out of Sorts is the winner of Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award 2018. Written by Danusia Samal, it tells the story of Zara, a young woman caught between two cultures. Raised Muslim in London, when Zara got to university she quickly learned to adapt in order to fit in with her overwhelmingly white classmates. Now living with her best friend and flatmate Alice, Zara is the typical millennial: she parties, she drinks, and she wants more from life than marriage to a Muslim man. On the other hand, when she visits her family, she reverts to the good Muslim daughter, wearing her hijab at dinner and saying the prayers. On the surface it may seem that Zara has it all worked out, and it’s simply a matter of code switching. But the truth is that identity is messy, and the stress of being split in two this way, between two worlds, neither of which fully accept her, has its cost.

Directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya, Out of Sorts is a heartfelt story of identity and belonging. Samal’s smart, insightful script cares deeply about its characters, all of whom are layered and complicated. Samal shows impressive skill in her ability to balance lightness in her writing with the heaviness of her subjects. The play, which confronts racism, privilege, mental health, and eating disorders, is also touching, delightful, and laugh out loud funny. And although the script may allow itself a few too many speeches, the show never feels long.

Myriam Acharki (Layla, Zara’s mother), is particularly deft in her grasp of her character’s sadness and pain, but also her quite sly sense of humour. Nayef Rashed (Hussein, Zara’s father), likewise brings much of the comedy to the play. Oznur Cifci nails the part of Zara’s sharp-witted, ‘hood rat’ little sister Fatima. Nalân Burgess (Zara) gives a good portrayal of someone barely holding things together. Emma Denly (Alice) is spot on as Zara’s well-intended but privileged and condescending flatmate. Claudius Peters (Anthony) is earnest and convincing as Alice’s boyfriend, who is unfortunate enough to get caught in the avalanche of the girls’ collapsing relationship.

The show has one set, which is used to portray both Zara and Alice’s upmarket flat, and Zara’s family’s council estate flat. What may seem like not an ideal choice, made to accommodate Theatre503’s small space, works better than you might think. A change in lighting (Ali Hunter) is surprisingly effective in morphing the atmosphere. The characters from Zara’s two worlds often overlap in the room, which suggests that perhaps Zara isn’t doing as well as she thinks at keeping her two identities apart.

Out of Sorts makes a powerful argument for open and truthful communication, no matter how difficult it may be. All of Zara’s secrets that she keeps from her friends and family, and her attempt to handle her problems alone, result in a huge mess, both literally and figuratively. The play is clever in getting us to re-examine our own perspectives, and remember that what we see of someone’s life is never the full story. Samal is loving, perceptive, and precise in her championing of people from two cultures who feel like they don’t belong to either. It’s important now more than ever to centre stories like Zara’s. Don’t miss this hugely enjoyable, eye-opening show.

Reviewed by Addison Waite

Photography by Helen Murray

Tag Archives: Danusia Samal

CHOIR

★★½

Minerva Theatre

CHOIR

Minerva Theatre

★★½

“has warmth and energy but is held back by its uneven tone and sketchy characterisation”