DWEEB-A-MANIA

Polka Theatre

★★★★★

“a relentless rollercoaster of laughter and spectacle”

Dweeb-A-Mania is an electrifying burst of theatrical joy — a letter to every young mind that dares to be different. From the moment you enter, the air crackles with expectation, promising a show that doesn’t just invite you in, but sweeps you up in its nerd-charged energy.

The immersive, in-the-round staging is the production’s stroke of genius. The actors don’t merely enter—they emerge from all four sides, instantly drawing everyone into the story. We are not mere spectators in the world of Kemi and Norah, the titular “mega-nerds”; we are guests in their sanctum.

The cast brings the story vividly to life. Playing the “mega-nerd” best friends, Norah (Amy Blake) and Kemi (Chidera Ikechukwu) are a delight, capturing both the intellectual swagger and the social vulnerability of bright teenagers with heartwarming authenticity. Their friendship—with its fierce loyalty and small, corrosive lies—feels painfully real.

The entrance of the popular boy, Bentley, hits like a theatrical lightning bolt. Tom Storey, who plays Bentley, commands the space with charismatic swagger, perfectly disrupting the nerds’ ordered world. His performance—along with several others—uses a heightened, physically expressive style, perfectly pitched for the young audience and ensuring every comedic and emotional beat lands clearly across the entire 360-degree space. Grace Carroll, as Lily, also adds delightful moments to the story.

Hannah Stone’s direction is a triumph of precision and pace. Managing narrative flow in such an exposed configuration is no easy task, yet she orchestrates the action flawlessly. The 50-minute runtime flies by on a relentless rollercoaster of laughter and spectacle. Scene changes are smooth and dynamic, while minimalist set design (Katie Lias) is a masterstroke—providing a scaffold for young imaginations to run wild. The energy is further lifted by pulsating electronic score (Ellie Isherwood) and sharp lighting design (Jane Lalljee). You never feel you’ve missed a moment, even when an actor’s back is turned.

Sarah Middleton’s award-winning script is a marvel, and it’s easy to see why it stood out. Every seemingly throwaway line is a carefully planted seed, paying off brilliantly in the climactic sequence. The eruption of “smoke donuts” and a volley of rubber chickens provoke a chorus of delighted screams from children and anarchic cheers from adults alike.

If the dialogue occasionally sprints ahead of its youngest viewers, it never loses its charm. Dweeb-A-Mania proves that smart theatre for young audiences can still be wild, anarchic fun.

Overall, Dweeb-A-Mania is more than a play—it’s a celebration of the smart, the quirky, and the unapologetically passionate. It entertains, inspires, and builds a temporary but beautiful community of nerds. An unequivocal triumph.

DWEEB-A-MANIA

Polka Theatre

Reviewed on 10th October 2025

by Portia Yuran Li

Photography by Jake Bush and Adela Ursachi

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE BOY WITH WINGS | ★★★ | June 2025

DWEEB-A-MANIA

★★★

“the young actresses all show impressive range in their multi-rolling”

Flush is a cross section of one night in the women’s toilets of a Hackney club. Fast paced and wide-ranging, it offers a kaleidoscopic view of the female hivemind anno 2025.

With fourteen characters, it’s an ambitious script. Most are part of groups, including a flock of giddy underaged girls, office workers out on the town, and a cow-themed hen do. April Hope Miller, who also wrote the piece, shines as a diabolical maid of honour, while Ayesha Griffiths harvests many a laugh as a woman who is considering how to rid herself of her disappointing Hinge date. Jazz Jenkins convincingly portrays the play’s central character, Billie, a recent immigrant from the US who gets assaulted by the manager at her new job. Aided by quick-changing lights (Jack Hathaway) and club-inspired music (Yanni Ng, Jacana People), director Merle Wheldon crafts a cinematic depiction of Billie’s trauma-and-ketamine-induced haze, as clubgoers swirl around her in fast motion. In Flush, there are as many themes as characters, and perhaps there are too many of both – that being said, the young actresses all show impressive range in their multi-rolling.

The play’s central premise is the singularity of women’s toilets as a space that enables raw interactions between women from all walks of life. In the dialogue, references to the characters outside of the bathroom effectively conjure up a world beyond the stage, which underlines the physical distinctiveness of the female lavatories. But how, and why, these toilets and that wider world differ remains underexplored in the script, leaving the question of space and separation somewhat neglected. Additionally, I was surprised that, despite the inclusion of a trans character, the script did not address the question of who ‘belongs’ in the ‘women’s’ bathroom, an issue which has become increasingly debated in recent years and would lend the piece more urgency.

On stage, there is a similar lack of precision regarding the female toilet as a physical space. The omission of walls and doors from the three toilets on stage preserves visibility, but the difference between the inside and the outside of a cubicle is crucial, exemplified the various characters that ‘hide’ in the toilet. This separation within the lavatory could have easily been created through lights or careful blocking, but unfortunately, it’s mostly unclear where the cubicle ends and the sink area begins. Additionally, few of the characters use the lavatory for its primary purpose: the loos are generally used as seats, and no one washes or dries their hands, leaving the blocking static at times.

Perhaps overly ambitious, Flush offers an (early) afternoon of feminist entertainment that leaves you looking forward to your next visit to that complicated sanctuary known as the female bathrooms.

Tag Archives: Jake Bush

DWEEB-A-MANIA

★★★★★

Polka Theatre

DWEEB-A-MANIA

Polka Theatre

★★★★★

“a relentless rollercoaster of laughter and spectacle”