FLOCK
Jack Studio Theatre
★★★½
“a piece that confronts, questions and refuses to look away”
Set in Lewisham, where we are starkly reminded that 461 children currently live without a family home, Lin Coghlan’s well-crafted play about care and the care system is a quietly devastating and thought provoking piece of theatre.
Robbie (played by Joseph Clark) and Cel (Tabitha Detriot) are siblings who have grown up in different placements, different addresses and with different versions of stability, yet always manage to find their way back to one another. Cel dreams of university; Robbie longs for something simpler and more profound – the chance for them to finally live together in one place.
Jim Pope’s direction makes the most of Sophie Jump’s simple but inventive set design, where movable screens create shifting environments that mirror the instability of the siblings’ lives. Jump’s costumes extend the largely monochrome palette, with Robbie’s green standing out as a colour signalling safety, growth and the fragile hope he clings to.
There is little colour in the lives of those around them as we watch the slow motion car crash of their circumstances unfold. Robbie is growing, nearly eighteen, approaching the cliff edge where legal responsibility ends and support abruptly changes, leaving him, as well as those trying to help, with an immense challenge to navigate.
Alice Selwyn is the standout performer for me. Understated yet compelling as the overworked but deeply committed personal adviser Mrs Bosely, she brings a palpable desperation to make a broken system function for Robbie. Her performance draws out the layers and quiet heartbreak embedded in Coghlan’s script.
The rest of the cast deliver solid work, with Romeo Mika offering nimble multi role performances, including Robbie’s best, and only friend, Miko. At times I longed for a little more energy, edge and volatility to fully expose the emotional ambivalence within the characters, but the performances remain engaging and sincere.
The anthropomorphism of a young man interpreting the world through the behaviour of birds could have been explored a little more, yet Flock remains an honest, grounded portrayal shaped through workshops with those who have directly experienced the care system. As a result, it stands as a fine example of relatable, socially conscious theatre.
PlayingON’s production deserves applause for being a play about something. It’s a piece that confronts, questions and refuses to look away. It feels perfectly placed within the fringe circuit, where such experimentation and challenge should be given room to breathe. Judging by the full house at the Jack Studio, audiences are more than ready to listen.
FLOCK
Jack Studio Theatre
Reviewed on 1st October 2026
by Robert West
Photography by Lucy Hayes
