★★★½

“a gentle, intimate hour with moments of truth and tenderness”

Joey and Lena have just moved into a new home. Cardboard boxes are still stacked around them, their lives mid-transition. They are also about to have a baby, with the help of their friend Ollie, who has stepped in as a sperm donor. It is an intriguing premise, full of questions about queer family, readiness, and desire.

SecondAdolescence’s debut play, Baby in the Mirror, begins with warmth and ease. Joey and Lena’s relationship is tenderly drawn, their banter light and affectionate. There is a genuine intimacy between them, and the dialogue has a softness and spark that makes it feel as if we have been invited into their living room to quietly watch. Ollie brings a flash of flamboyance and chaos, a counterpoint to the couple’s cosy dynamic. The rapport between the three is easy and believable, creating a tenderness in the intimacy that is one of the play’s most appealing qualities.

Gradually, it becomes clear that one of them is ready for the baby, and one of them is not, though neither can quite bring themselves to say it. Lena struggles with anxiety, culminating in a panic attack towards the end, while Joey quietly sits on their own fears.

The performances are the production’s strongest asset. Stella Marie Sophie as Lena carries a physical tension that says as much as the dialogue, curling into themselves in moments of distress. Joey is played with a softness and vulnerability by Zoë West, the conflict of wanting to be honest but not wanting to hurt their partner written across their face. Ollie, played by Derek Mitchell, has an infectious energy that stops the domesticity from becoming too still, though his presence sometimes threatens to tip the balance of the trio away from the central couple’s emotional journey. It is in these small physical beats and tonal shifts that the piece finds its emotional depth.

Stylistically, Baby in the Mirror feels like it is aiming for extreme naturalism. There are moments where the stillness, silences, and offhand rhythms of conversation land beautifully. Leaning further into that mode could strengthen the work. At times, the writing and direction seems hesitant to fully commit to it, pulling back into more conventional theatrical beats just when the awkward pauses or meandering chats are at their most revealing.

While the premise promises a probing look at what it means for queer couples to create a family, the story really centres the relationship itself. This is lovely to watch, but it leaves many of the broader ideas unexplored. The questions posed by the play’s premise remain mostly at the edges.

The ending is abrupt. It does not carry the charge of a deliberate cliffhanger, more the feeling that the conversation has simply stopped. This adds to the sense that the piece is an early draft of something with much more to say. The craft of the dialogue, the chemistry between the performers, and the gentle humour all suggest strong foundations. With further development, the play could dig deeper into its characters’ inner worlds, while bringing the social and political contexts into sharper focus.

As it stands, Baby in the Mirror is a gentle, intimate hour with moments of truth and tenderness, but it feels like it is only just beginning to scratch the surface of the family story it wants to tell.

OUTLYING ISLANDS

Jermyn Street Theatre

★★★★

“The subject matter never quite chills our bones, but the context is often unsettling”

The atmosphere hits you like a bracing offshore wind as you descend into the depths of the small basement on Jermyn Street. Anna Lewis’ set: a semi-submerged, semi-derelict stone chapel, creates the mood. Tragic and sepulchral, yet some sort of haven from the cruel elements that sweep the remote Hebridean shoreline outside. Its owner, Kirk, is just as rough-edged. Living alone with Ellen, his niece, they live in quiet captivity until two young, hapless ornithologists burst through the door – literally knocking it off its hinges. The impulsive, emotionally detached Robert, along with the more moral but anxious John have arrived to study the local bird life. It is the eve of World War II, so there is understandably a more sinister motive behind the survey that leaves them stranded on the isle for a month. Less understandable is the fact that the two young men seem somewhat unaware of the pretext. Whereas the isolated, cantankerous Kirk has all the gen. Fully aware that his outlying outcrop is scheduled to be the subject of a biological weapon experiment, he sees the dollar-signs stockpiling in his compensation package.

David Greig’s lyrical play draws you in to this small world. It is claustrophobic but the confines are torn, allowing us to see the wider issues. Little, though, is made of the encroaching anthrax experiment and instead we are watching the social and romantic entanglements as avidly as birdwatchers study our feathered friends’ behaviour. Humans are much more complicated. Greig knows this only too well and the poetry of his language teases out the characters’ serpentine layers with rich dialogue and haunting monologues. The standout performance is Whitney Kehinde’s Ellen. Timid and repressed she swiftly replaces her dour mantle with swathes of lust, as a new-found freedom from her uncle’s tyranny is tragically chanced upon. Kevin McMonagle is wonderfully charismatic as Kirk. Acerbic and unashamedly direct, he tries to keep Ellen like a caged bird but cannot control her mind. The stage lights up every time McMonagle fires his lines with a wry sense of humour and a Chekhovian dramatic irony.

Bruce Langley and Fred Woodley Evans, as Robert and John respectively, also manage to spin out the humour that runs alongside the poignancy. Deliberate echoes of Laurel and Hardy break the solemnity in a play that is difficult to categorise. The comedy is subtle, like the Mona Lisa smile. It disappears when you look directly at it. The ambiguity is sometimes overdone, though, and confusion starts to set in as the show coasts towards its climax in a tangle of charged eroticism. Despite the shifts in mood, Jessica Lazar’s assured direction evenly paces the action. Clever use of the intimate space sets clear indicators for the interior and exterior scenes, enhanced by David Doyle’s suggestive lighting which evokes the bleakness, and ignites warmth when needed. The subject matter never quite chills our bones, but the context is often unsettling.

Politically and philosophically the play throws up some interesting questions while rooting itself in a story about human relationships. Desire is a complex beast. The male characters are more at sea than Ellen. We wonder whether she is playing the two outsiders or whether her passions are genuine. We are certainly given time to contemplate – the play does stretch itself out. Not every character makes it to the end. But, thanks to the writing and the wonderful performances from the strong quartet of actors, the audience is kept in thrall right up to the closing moments.

Tag Archives: David Doyle

BABY IN THE MIRROR

★★★½

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

BABY IN THE MIRROR

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

★★★½

“a gentle, intimate hour with moments of truth and tenderness”

BABY IN THE MIRROR

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Reviewed on 9th August 2025 at Red Lecture Theatre at Summerhall

by Joseph Dunitz

Photography by Ejay Freeman

BABY IN THE MIRROR

BABY IN THE MIRROR

BABY IN THE MIRROR

OUTLYING ISLANDS

★★★★

Jermyn Street Theatre

OUTLYING ISLANDS

Jermyn Street Theatre

★★★★

“The subject matter never quite chills our bones, but the context is often unsettling”