★★★½

“Thought-provoking and supremely relevant”

How relevant can a play from 1599 be in the present day? Can it serve as more than just entertainment? In ‘English Kings Killing Foreigners’, Shakespeare’s Globe Ensemble actors Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti prove that the Bard’s ‘Henry V’, a history play in which the English king invades France to claim the throne, remains disturbingly current.

In the show’s ‘prologue’, Nina (Nina Bowers) and Phil (Philip Arditti) roll out a whiteboard displaying ‘English [Blank] Killing [Blank]’. We are merrily invited to think of the many possible insertions at hand, not-so-subtly probing the audience to conjure up a range of British war crimes etc. With that out of the way, we learn that the lead of a fictional upcoming production of ‘Henry V’ has died and that the inexperienced Nina has unexpectedly been cast as the King. As a Canadian, queer woman of mixed race, the casting is a statement she never asked to make. Begrudgingly encouraged by Jewish-Turkish actor Phil to take the role, the two begin to question what it means to play a white English king as an immigrant in Britain.

Interspersed with a healthy dose of lighter comedy, Bowers and Arditti unpick the colonial underpinnings of Shakespeare’s play, which was written in part to fuel morale for the ongoing war with Ireland in the playwright’s own time. By substituting words in the Chorus’ prologue to the second Act (‘Now all the youth of England are on fire…’), the pair imbue its celebration of violence and war with newfound relevance, drawing painful parallels to the current genocide in Gaza. In a piece that occasionally suffers from an excess of fluff, this scene is undoubtedly the strongest.

In the final act, Nina takes to the stage as Henry V, while Phil assumes his role as the Chorus. In a somewhat confusing and chaotic scene, Phil disrupts Nina’s performance to assert that St George’s flag, which features heavily in this fictional staging, should be discarded rather than reclaimed. With too little build-up to this sudden, dramatic fall-out, the very interesting question of the proper fate of one of Britain’s most controversial symbols feels underexplored and disjointed. It is a symptom of a larger issue: though the two characters work well together, the differences between them are not utilised to their full dramatic potential. Luckily, Bowers and Arditti’s excellent chemistry carries the piece, lending it joy and vivacity that also prevents it from feeling overly didactic.

Thought-provoking and supremely relevant, ‘English Kings Killing Foreigners’ would benefit from a bit of streamlining to make its hard-hitting humour and uncomfortable truths shine. By way of its creators’ satisfying comedic performances, it manages to offer a light exploration of the colonialist narratives that underpin British culture.

REALLY GOOD EXPOSURE

Soho Theatre

★★★★

“Prescott’s writing is dynamic and light”

In ‘Really Good Exposure’, Megan Prescott charts the fictional Molly Thomas’ evolution from teenage starlet to porn star. Prescott, who appeared as Katie Finch in the hit teen series ‘Skins’ in the 2000s, draws on her own and others’ lived experiences of exploitation and grooming in the entertainment industry to address a plethora of issues: the sexualisation of minors, the financial barriers to the pursuit of a creative career, and women’s (lack of) agency in the commercialisation of their bodies. In doing so, the actor-writer weaves a compelling and intersectional, if somewhat didactic, web.

Prescott delivers a strong and self-assured performance, easily filling the stage at the Soho Theatre all by herself. Her portrayal of Molly Thomas alternatively as a child, a teenager, and a young adult feels sincere and consistent. In this, she is aided by Hattie North’s precise and extensive sound design, particularly the many recorded voices that Molly constantly converses with – her mother, her agent, a casting director. Recordings, of course, inherently don’t really ‘respond’ to a performer like a fellow actor might, underlining the unyielding nature of the characters’ demands of Molly. Additionally, the voices’ incorporeality (if I may) reinforces the central fact that the characters they portray all profit off of Molly’s body, and her body alone. Director Fiona Kingwill dresses Prescott in a bedazzled set of underwear even in the scenes from Molly’s childhood, allowing her to highlight continuities between sex workers’ costumes and what girls wear in dance competitions, for example. It’s touches like these that make the interplay between Prescott’s acting and Kingwill’s staging of the play feel refined.

However, Kingwill’s heavy dependence on tech sometimes takes away from the emotional punches the script delivers, particularly in the latter half of the play. Though Rachel Sampley’s lighting design is beautifully done, the videos she created to be projected to the back of the stage sometimes overpower Prescott, while montages of tweets and newspaper headlines felt unnecessary and teetered on cliché. The overreliance on tech is best illustrated by the effectiveness of a moment in which it is turned down: in a central scene, Molly is essentially forced to strip naked while auditioning to play a stripper. Her anguish comes across very well precisely because there’s no projection and the music is eerily quiet, as if being played in an empty dancing hall. Literally nude on stage, Molly comes across as ‘truly’ naked for the first time because she cannot hide behind loud music, stage lights, or projections.

Prescott’s writing is dynamic and light, though it loses some of its focus towards the end of the play, with the scenes in which Molly partakes in ‘Romance Reef’ (a.k.a. Love Island) feeling rather gimmicky. Additionally, the final monologue takes on an overly didactic tone. As Molly, Prescott essentially tells the audience how the show is meant to be interpreted, spelling out the message that sex work can be about taking control of your body and sexuality. It is a powerful and controversial stance in a world where sex workers are simultaneously portrayed as helpless victims and arbiters of immorality, but I wish Prescott had let her work speak for itself more. A layered piece about a divisive topic, ‘Really Good Exposure’ offers a night of thought-provoking entertainment.

ENGLISH KINGS KILLING FOREIGNERS

Soho Theatre

★★★½

“Thought-provoking and supremely relevant”

ENGLISH KINGS KILLING FOREIGNERS

Soho Theatre

Reviewed on 22nd September 2025

by Lola Stakenburg

Photography by Harry Elletson

Previously reviewed at Soho Theatre venues:

ENGLISH KINGS

ENGLISH KINGS

ENGLISH KINGS

REALLY GOOD EXPOSURE

Soho Theatre

★★★★

“Prescott’s writing is dynamic and light”