(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL

Park Theatre

★★

“Every emotion and incident in this piece is recognisable”

(God Save my) Northern Soul is a single hander, billed as a dark comedy about love, loss and Northern Soul music. The humour rests on an undercooked teenager who suddenly loses her Mum and has to confront the complex world of adulthood. This a very relatable play, with lovely key moments, but as a whole is, like the teenager, rather undercooked.

Natasha Cottriall has written and performs this piece. She has great potential. Her character, Nicole, is the narrator and the prime character, a 19-year-old who is unprepared for the consequences of maternal death. At moments Natasha/Nicole also has to ‘be’ the characters that she interacts with, most frequently, a prudish and opinionated grandma; a boozy but supportive friend; and the priest who will conduct the burial. Cottriall handles the transitions well, introduces echoes and repeats to hold the piece together and is a lively presence on the stage, even if her overall performance has some weak spots.

It is not explicitly stated that this is an autobiographical storyline but it could easily be. It is well written – the straight talk, the moments of inappropriate humour, the northern setting, the casual racism that Nicole encounters, her naivety and acute vulnerability. Every emotion and incident in this piece is recognisable and wrings the heartstrings of the audience, as well as laughs.

But, altogether it is a bit loose, meaning that the humour is undeveloped and resolution does not really come about. Director Hannah Tyrell-Pinder and her team have worked sympathetically with the material but the staging choices might have helped the play tighten up, instead of leaving some of it rambling. The Northern Soul music of the title is nicely used as a ‘character’ and also part of the sound design (Chris James) – but we didn’t really get enough of it to understand its significance. The ‘boxes’ set works hard (Alex Marker, designer), but some of it does not seem to add to the action. The close of the play fumbles and seems strangely ill-timed.

I felt I would like to see this piece re-worked. What it conveys is important for us to know: the abrupt transition that death brings about in any child, even older ones. We are never prepared. Parental death calls into recognition all sorts of other influences in our lives, often hidden until that moment. I also want to know ‘what happens next to Nicole?’. She has shown herself to be a real and loveable person who has just started on her journey. Maybe this is a trilogy in waiting.

(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL

Park Theatre

Reviewed on 12th September 2025

by Louise Sibley

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE GATHERED LEAVES | ★★★★ | August 2025

LOST WATCHES | ★★★ | August 2025

THAT BASTARD, PUCCINI! | ★★★★★ | July 2025

OUR COSMIC DUST | ★★★ | June 2025

OUTPATIENT | ★★★★ | May 2025

CONVERSATIONS AFTER SEX | ★★★ | May 2025

FAREWELL MR HAFFMANN | ★★★★ | March 2025

ONE DAY WHEN WE WERE YOUNG | ★★★ | March 2025

ANTIGONE | ★★★★★ | February 2025

CYRANO | ★★★ | December 2024

(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL

★★★★

“plays on our fears at several levels”

This is a startling (nay, shocking) short play and it is startlingly good. What writer/actor Benny Ainsworth and director Michael Parker manage to achieve in a mere 55 minutes is extraordinary.

There is no getting away from it, however, so best to get it out front. This play is firmly in the horror genre. So if graphic descriptions of killing disturb you, you should probably stay away.

It is difficult to describe without giving a lot away – the theatre blurb is well crafted and as much as you need to start with. This play is partly metaphor. Vermin scratch in the floorboards and walls of the home that Billy (Ainsworth) and Rachel (Sally Paffett) have lovingly built; but psychological vermin are at play in their relationship. And then the metaphor turns horrifyingly real.

Billy and Rachel tell their story in a rapid two-hander, bouncing off and interrupting each other, cosying up, then letting rip. Soliloquies are interleaved. They play out early love scenes and flashbacks of darkness, then take the road to trust crumbling and a shocking end.

Paffett won a well-deserved award for her performance when the play was presented at the Arcola in 2024. She is a class act: bubbly and naive one moment; heartbreaking the next; and calculating and sinister in undertones, as she sets the house and the relationship on the road to ruin. Ainsworth is equally good as a loving man, proud of his practical skills, who reveals a frightening obsession with killing that, despite his best efforts, he can’t shake off.

As Director and Technical Director, Parker has a confident hand, keeping the surrounding environment spartan in order to better highlight the performances. The set consists of two chairs on a dark empty stage. Very subtle changes of lighting (Alex Lewer) punctuate the scene and highlight turning moments and traps.

I’m no expert on the horror genre, but I believe the point – in films, TV and on stage – is to bring nightmares into consciousness and in so doing allow larger fears to be shared and released. Vermin plays on our fears at several levels – it could also spark a wider conversation about society and what happens when we fail to deal with trauma. Whether I will sleep tonight is another matter.

(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL

Park Theatre

★★

“Every emotion and incident in this piece is recognisable”