THE MURMURATION OF STARLINGS
Seven Dials Playhouse
★★★
“a heart-warming story about past and present coming together”
Balancing Act first came to be in 2001 and they have been around long enough to know how to create a world full of colour, humour and deep connections onstage. It’s clear that this company knows how to touch on people’s emotions in a gentle, almost respectful manner. ‘The Murmuration of Starlings’ is one of those shows that doesn’t attempt to achieve too much, but instead offers a pleasant, if not bittersweet at times, evening that will encourage its audience to interpret the story, and its meaning, as they see fit.
Man and Woman return from their walk and talk about what kind of soup they’ll have for lunch. Everything feels calm and normal till Man encounters Boy and together they try to decipher the entity, the predator, who seems to be disturbing the peace, while attempting to protect what’s most dear to them. But is the predator what they think it is? And why does time seem to tangle and go many different directions instead of forward?
The cast of four come on and go off the stage quietly, yet surely, in an almost magnetising manner. There is some lovely chemistry and each one of them bring a relatable and grounded air. Man (played by Steve Hay) and Boy (played by Jonny Dagnell) bounce back and forth with their almost ADHD energy full of interesting twists and turns. Everything they talk about becomes fascinating and balance Man’s maturity with Boy’s childlike enthusiasm perfectly. Jenny Johns is great as Woman, the voice of protection, reason and care, while Jennifer Barton as Girl feels a bit too staged, as if trying to remind the audience that she comes from a different era.
Joe Graham, writer and director of the show, focuses on imagery and riveting dialogue, selecting just the right amount of themes and ideas to move forward with the plot, rather than overdoing it as it happens with quite a few shows that choose messy quantity over quality. Having said that, the script does feel like, at times, it’s losing its way to the point of rambling before returning back to what is actually happening onstage.
The set is neat and highlights the colours red and blue to attract the audience’s attention. Crates are smartly used as chairs, fortresses, shelves or as a means to demonstrate the characters’ emotional state. Also, a set of projections in the background add an extra flair, especially when all the different entities, birds and predators, and locations, woods and bus tops, are mentioned, which helps maintain a level of visual variation.
It’s a heart-warming story about past and present coming together and merging into an adventure that at times feels a bit fragmented. However, it does reveal a compassionate and tender perspective on human relations and how personal battles sometimes need to be shared in order to be won.
THE MURMURATION OF STARLINGS
Seven Dials Playhouse
Reviewed on 4th March 2026
by Stephanie Christodoulidou
Photography by Steve Randall
