★★★★★

“an evocative and moving story”

‘Cow | Deer’ is a ground-breaking, haunting exploration of humanity’s impact on nature: a wordless theatrical experience unlike anything you’ve ‘seen’.

As autumn’s chilly fingers take hold, ‘Cow | Deer’ beckons you to spend a summer’s day in the life of two animals – one wild and free, the other domesticated. Created entirely with sound, the deer roams the forest looking for berries and water; the cow is pregnant and preparing for birth. Neither can escape human interference: planes roar overhead, cars screech past, dogs crash through protective barriers; the bucolic idyll is quickly shattered. Then the climax: two heartbreaking fates. Human dominance is clear.

Co-created by Katie Mitchell, Nina Segal and Melanie Wilson, this innovative piece pushes the boundaries of theatre. Though staged, it’s aural with nothing to watch save the Foley artists working their magic. Instead, sound IS the show, perhaps most effectively experienced with closed eyes. Though unlike a radio play, it’s fully immersive, a gravel path greeting your feet, the smell of fresh hay in the air. The sound enfolds you, moving dynamically through the space, approaching and retreating from all sides. You feel every step, every raindrop, every fly bite. Little by little, you slip into cow and deer’s world, feeling every shiver, every breath, as if it were your own. I initially wondered if a day in the life of a cow might be a little dry; but the plot hits hard, channelling a flood of emotions and giving these animals a voice without uttering a single word.

Alex Eales’ design is genius. The stage unassumingly displays the Foley materials on a bed of straw, grass, water and stone, accented by Prema Mehta’s soft lighting. You almost don’t notice the array of technical equipment, microphones and sound booths. Soft lighting remains throughout, allowing you to watch these artists in motion if you wish, but encouraging you to drift away and let your mind create the visuals.

The soundscape design by Tom Espiner, Ruth Sullivan and Marie Zschommler and realisation by Espiner, Pandora Colin, Tatenda Matsvai, Ruth Sullivan and Melanie Wilson, is beautifully rich and realistic, combining real field recordings with deft Foley art. Real bird calls and human sounds mix with trees creaking, streams splashing and hooves stamping. Scene changes are grounded by clear shifts in ambient tone. The range of sounds is phenomenally impressive. This is not simply an emulation of the outdoors; expect screaming jet engines, screeching car tyres, and even whooshing from the inside the cow (come see it, you’ll see what I mean). There are unexpectedly funny moments, like the cow’s thunderous wee and cow pats slapping the ground. It weaves together an evocative and moving story, despite the lack of words and visuals.

The cast and sound engineer work seamlessly together, creating impressively complex sounds through an aural ballet. Every moment requires a skilful coordination of whisking, shaking, squelching and striking, simultaneously using multiple Foley materials. It’s breathtaking to watch and so effectively recreates the natural world I can scarcely believe the rustling leaves are the fringes of a glittery pompom.

‘Cow | Deer’ is a compelling and expressive marriage of technology and art, with an important message about nature under siege. As poignant as it is impressive, I urge you to experience this experimental work and ‘see’ things from a new perspective.

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

★★★★

“this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking”

Henrik Ibsen’s nineteenth century drama, “Hedda Gabler” has often been hailed as a masterpiece and described as a female variation of ‘Hamlet’. And like Shakespeare, Ibsen’s works have also been subject to modern interpretations, twists and re-writes. It is an inevitable exercise with a work that is well over a century old; the success of which largely depends on how much of the original essence is retained whilst striking a chord with contemporary audiences. Nina Segal’s “Shooting Hedda Gabler” scores on both counts with an ingenious unfolding of the story on a twenty-first century film set in Norway.

After being offered the title role in a movie of ‘Hedda Gabler’, an American actress grabs the opportunity as an escape route from Hollywood and a scandal involving a violent run-in with the paparazzi. Although quite a success in America, she feels trapped by her celebrity status and perceived lack of artistic credibility. She is privileged but powerless. Arriving in Norway, however, she is merely powerless. The play opens with a quite remarkable scene during which she is introduced to her fellow cast members and director who not only have little time for her status but openly mock it. The tone is set with a mix of observation, satire and biting humour.

Hedda is in a world she wasn’t prepared for. Reality and fiction become blurred. Interestingly we never learn the names of the actors portrayed in this play – only their character names in the movie shoot – a device which further enhances the indistinction. Antonia Thomas, as Hedda Gabler, pitches the right amount of incredulity with a fierce resilience to keep her head above water and, indeed gives as good as she gets. She is immediately up against Henrik, the demanding and Machiavellian director, who demands that the aim is ‘not to seem to be, but to be’. He will go to any lengths to get the shot. Christian Rubeck is a commanding presence as Henrik who runs his studio like an amoral professor conducting a psycho-scientific experiment.

“The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic”

It is a very clever and radical interpretation, but we never lose sight of the parallels with Ibsen’s original, aided by the exemplary performances. Joshua James, as the actor playing Hedda’s husband Jørgen, brilliantly mixes the humble resignation of Jørgen’s character with the aloof arrogance of the actor reluctantly playing a role which he feels is beneath him. Matilda Bailes, as Thea, throws in moments of comedy when it transpires she is also the studio’s therapist and intimacy director. Anna Andresen, as Berta the unappreciated AD, tries to hold it all together with an officiousness that often breaks under Henrik’s dictatorial hand. The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic, the suspense further mounting when Henrik calculatedly recruits another movie star and real-life ex-lover of Hedda to play her on-screen ex-lover Ejlert (a charismatic Avi Nash who manages to make the character more tragic than perhaps Ibsen even intended).

If it sounds convoluted on the page, it does actually make sense on the stage and it is at times gripping. The undercurrents are captured, too, by Hansjörg Schmidt’s atmospheric lighting which clearly flickers between the reality, and the unreality when the cameras roll. A prior knowledge of Ibsen’s original is, if not absolutely necessary, a very useful requirement. But Segal has created something unique with this adaptation which could act as a stand-alone commentary on certain unfavourable aspects of today’s film industry. I’m not sure how much we are supposed to analyse the text but there are definite messages about the role of feminism in Hollywood and the more contentious topics of male domination, misogyny, manipulation and abuse. Ibsen predates the golden era of Hollywood in which starlets would customarily be under the control of tyrannical moguls. Segal’s version comes high on the wave that has thankfully brought that to account, and she balances these issues well without them pulling focus from what is a very acute piece of writing.

“Shooting Hedda Gabler” is occasionally surreal, the climax of Act Two perhaps a touch too bizarre, with the question of the current AI controversy and the effects of CGI on moviemaking unnecessarily thrown into the mix. It distances us too much from the heart of the story. But otherwise, this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking.

COW | DEER

Royal Court

★★★★★

“an evocative and moving story”

COW | DEER

Royal Court

Reviewed on 11th September 2025

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Camilla Greenwell

Previously reviewed at this venue:

COW

COW

COW

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

★★★★

“this is an extremely sharp interpretation. Funny and chilling, entertaining and thought provoking”

“The fragile humour gives way to tension as the atmosphere becomes increasingly claustrophobic”

SHOOTING HEDDA GABLER at the Rose Theatre Kingston

Reviewed on 4th October 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Andy Paradise

Top rated shows in September

Shooting Hedda Gabler

Shooting Hedda Gabler

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