★★½

“The cast, across the board, is excellent, reaffirming their ability to shape and invigorate otherwise middling writing”

‘This is My Family’ is a refrain repeated with such alarming frequency in this show, I started to hope it might actually hint at a much darker piece, which used ‘happy families’ as a veil for a seedy Mafia tale of subterfuge, criminality, and intrigue, expressed via showtunes. Alas, it did not.

It was, in fact, about an unremarkable, nuclear family from somewhere unspecified in the North of England in which 13-year-old Nicky (Nancy Allsop) wins a competition that grants her and her family any holiday of her choosing. Except her ideal family, as described in her application, is not so ideal: her brother (Luke Lambert) has become some kind of satanic incarnation of a teenager; her grandmother (Gay Soper) has burgeoning dementia and an affliction for arson; and her mother (Gemma Whelan) and father (Michael Jibson), who have been together since they were 16, are steeped in mediocrity and have grown indifferent towards each other. Tim Firth’s new play (or musical?) engages with all these topics but tends to neglect a nuanced exploration of them.

Firstly, and truly, one is reminded that good actors are wonderful artists. The cast, across the board, is excellent, reaffirming their ability to shape and invigorate otherwise middling writing. Allsop as Nicky is particularly charming, eminently watchable and sweet, and with a delightful voice. Whelan is also a standout as Nicky’s deeply frustrated mother, Yvonne.

This is my Family is nominally a musical. And yet, its status as such calls into question the framework and requirements necessary to earn its place as a musical. Because, surely, just sing-speaking constantly does not a musical make. A musical should really justify its songs: they have a reason for being: when speaking isn’t enough. Not when speaking is just not interesting enough. In this piece, dialogue and song became interchangeable and quickly indistinguishable, substituting memorable showstoppers for loosely spoken song. In all honesty, the only memorable bit of music is the aforementioned ‘this is my family’ line.

Set design (Chloe Lamford) was a standout: an initial shed-like house soon collapses, giving us a cosy interior. The switch to greener pastures in the Second Act was also a neat design choice.

In general, This is my Family is mediocre, but with first-rate actors. Whilst a play need not have a profound moralising conclusion, or solve the world’s most pressing problems, it ought to say something interesting, and with nuance. The plot is circuitous and often tedious, its twists predictable and its characters on the stock side. In its defence, it is light and fun, and the stakes are generally quite low. This may be a particularly palatable thing for theatre and audiences at the moment, given *gestures vaguely at everything* stuff. This is my Family is unimposing, gentle, and lightly comic, appealing to many a sensibility. However, its lightness came at the expense of subtlety and depth and is entirely devoid of a ‘showstopping number; a real showstopper’.

BLOOD WEDDING

Omnibus Theatre

★★★★

“The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances”

One of the most telling lines in Barney Norris’ adaptation of Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” is when the young bride, Georgie proclaims ‘I can’t remember what’s good about me’. The mix of fear and confusion in the eyes epitomises not just Nell Williams’ extraordinary performance, but also the nature of the play in which we are repeatedly taken aback by powerful moments of poignancy that burst through the comedic surface. It is a multi-layered piece that brings Lorca’s tragedy right up to date into a very relatable English rural setting. We are in a Wiltshire village on the edge of Salisbury Plain. A seemingly ordinary backwater peopled by everyday characters. Don’t be fooled. Alex Marker’s realistic set places the action around the back of a village hall, but we are somehow thrown into the world of folklore too.

Georgie and Rob (Christopher Neenan) are checking out the slightly run-down venue for their wedding reception. Rob’s mother, Helen (Alix Dunmore), is tagging along, anxious to convey her misgivings about the whole affair. The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances that match the natural flow of the dialogue. There is much humour, but small details and verbal tics hint at the darkness that is to come. Director Tricia Thorns is very in tune with the subtleties, often allowing the characters to look out to the audience yet still staying within their own world.

Neenan’s Rob is a delight. With his soft West Country accent, his instantly loveable personality has a simplicity and honesty that Williams’ gently mocking Georgie cannot resist. Nor can we as we root for this couple, despite the protestations of Helen and her severe abandonment complex. Dunmore can switch between caring mother and prophet of doom with remarkable ease while displaying the guilt of not imposing either with enough force. Enter Brian, the village hall’s caretaker. Initially hilarious, his role develops into that of the all-seeing sage. A remarkable performance from David Fielder that shifts into the surreal as he takes on the spiritual symbolism of Lorca’s original text, leading us dramatically towards the bloody and disturbing climax.

But before we get there, we meet Georgie’s old schoolfriend, Danni (Esme Lonsdale) and her bad-boy, Irish traveller husband Lee (Kiefer Moriarty). Lee is Georgie’s ex, and because he reappears on the day of Georgie’s wedding, we can’t help but get a sense of what is coming, whether we are familiar with Lorca’s play or not. Lonsdale gives a real strength to Danni, ably standing up to Moriarty’s slightly unconvincing menace. One of the few inconsistencies of the piece comes with the nagging disbelief that Georgie would be prepared to flee her own wedding and run off with Lee.

Fielder’s Brian tells us that ‘there is more to me than meets the eye’. A statement that can describe this play. The powerful shift in mood and style in the second act could easily have jarred, but in the hands of this talented company it is impressive, and Fielder comes to the fore with a commanding potency. The tears he has in his eyes towards the end seem genuine, and we are impelled to join him. The final epilogue, set a year after the events, is in danger of unnecessarily dragging out the ending, but it neatly sews up of the threads of the story. A tale of the fears and dreams, not just of the newly wed protagonists, but of all of us. Barney Norris has said that he wanted to build a new kind of mythology with this adaptation, particularly to the part of England where he has set the narrative. On that level he succeeds, but his play also has the gift to entertain which, in turn, is a real gift for the audience.

THIS IS MY FAMILY

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

★★½

“The cast, across the board, is excellent, reaffirming their ability to shape and invigorate otherwise middling writing”

THIS IS MY FAMILY

Southwark Playhouse Elephant

Reviewed on 28th May 2025

by Violet Howson

Photography by Mark Senior

Last ten shows reviewed at Southwark Playhouse venues:

THIS IS MY FAMILY

THIS IS MY FAMILY

THIS IS MY FAMILY

BLOOD WEDDING

Omnibus Theatre

★★★★

“The dynamics are beautifully conveyed by the actors in wonderfully genuine performances”

BLOOD WEDDING

Omnibus Theatre

Reviewed on 2nd May 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Phil Gammon

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BLOOD WEDDING

BLOOD WEDDING

BLOOD WEDDING

JOIN US