FARM FATALE

Queen Elizabeth Hall

★★★

“if you’re up for a slightly trippy, truly unforgettable night of theatre, you’re in the right place”

Renowned French theatre maker Philippe Quesne’s ‘Farm Fatale’ crosses the Channel for a delightfully baffling UK debut. Blending performance art, social commentary and absurdist theatre, it’s nothing if not unique.

A band of scarecrows listens for birds long gone after the Anthropocene apocalypse. With nothing left to guard, the scarecrows find new meaning through music, activism and sacks of whimsy.

Created, designed and directed by Philippe Quesne of Vivarium Studio, ‘Farm Fatale’ drifts through a dreamlike world that poses more questions than it answers. With dramaturgy by Martin Valdés Stauber and Camille Louis, the scarecrows face a deeply existential question: who are we without purpose? Yet it’s handled with such humour, innocence and absurdity that the question feels anything but bleak. Narratively, the concept could use more bite – the ecological activism fades into a glowing egg subplot that’s harder to follow, and the apocalyptic logic strains when a neighbouring farmer suddenly has thousands of livestock. However, in tonight’s post show talk, Quesne likens it to a comic strip, and seen that way it clicks.

Quesne’s direction, supported by Jonny Bix Bongers and Dennis Metaxas, blends stillness and spectacle through sparse staging, suspended objects and a towering scaffold. The physical comedy is charming, full of knowingly exaggerated movements. The masks cleverly exaggerate the scarecrows’ grotesque features, though glimpses of human eyes and teeth beneath gives them a slightly unsettling ‘Silence of the Lambs’ edge. Quesne also sees the cast doubling as a band, serving whimsical live music including an entertaining mashup of ‘Dingle Dangle Scarecrow’ with a classic RnB beat – though the moment itself is one of the piece’s quirkier detours.

Quesne’s expansive white set, created with Nicole Marianna Wytyczak, evokes the moment cartoon characters run out of frame into nothingness – both surreal and quietly existential. Suspended objects add a playful deconstruction, while DIY props – including a pig piano – extend the show’s eccentric scarecrow logic. Nora Stocker’s costumes give each scarecrow a distinct personality, and Brigitte Frank’s masks heighten the surreality. Pit Schultheiss’ lighting shifts from stark white to kaleidoscopic colour, and Robert Göing and Anthony Hughes’ sound design layers pastoral textures across the canvas.

The ensemble of Léo Gobin, Sébastien Jacobs, Nuno Lucas, Anne Steffens and Gaëtan Vourc’h brings real joy and camaraderie to this band of scarecrows as they search for a new path. Their improv instincts and musicianship are sharp, and there’s some impressive singing too – though the masks occasionally make it tricky to tell who’s doing what. Even so, the ensemble’s spark and cohesion shine through.

‘Farm Fatale’ is more bonkers than barnyard – but if you’re up for a slightly trippy, truly unforgettable night of theatre, you’re in the right place.

FARM FATALE

Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank

Farm Fatale is part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary programme

Reviewed on 15th May 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Martin Argyroglo

FARM FATALE

★★★★★

“anarchic, brilliant, and utterly unmissable”

In a theatrical landscape where so much political commentary is derivative, predictable, woolly and yet didactic, Sh!t Theatre’s Evita Too achieves something remarkable. It’s genuinely original, subversive, intelligent and screamingly funny. Writers and performers Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole have crafted a riotous comedy and searing, thought-provoking political critique, wrapped in the story of Isabel Perón.

As the world’s first female president, Isabel Perón ascended to power in Argentina after the death of her husband, Juan. Yet, she has been scrubbed from the history books.

The show’s premise is brilliant. Discovering that Isabel Perón is still alive, the duo travel across Argentina and Spain in search of the mysterious recluse. They attempt to write a musical about her to rival Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita – which glorified Juan Perón’s previous wife Eva whilst rendering his second wife, Isabel invisible. What emerges is part travelogue, part history lesson, part existential crisis. Isabel’s story is unpacked through a collage of video (including scenes in a Perón-themed bar where staff have never heard of Isabel), original songs, puppetry, and slapstick. The design by Zoē Hurwitz and lighting design by Dan Carter-Brennan are pitch perfect.

What makes Evita Too so compelling is its refusal to offer simple narratives. Isabel isn’t presented as a wronged heroine waiting for rehabilitation. She had death squads, after all, and her eighteen-month presidency was marked by economic and political disaster. The audience is trusted to draw its own conclusions.

Under Ursula Martinez’s assured direction and stage managed by Rose Hockaday, the deliberately lo-fi aesthetic becomes a strength. Biscuit and Mothersole perform with infectious energy, shifting between comedy, documentary, and genuine pathos. Music is seamlessly integrated into the show by John Biddle (Composition and Music Production) and Jonathan Mitra (Music Assistant and Track Producer).

The brief, unnecessary and irrelevant nudity at the beginning feels gratuitous and won’t be to everyone’s taste. The remaining material is stronger without it. But this is a minor blemish on an otherwise exceptional evening. Evita Too is clever in the best sense – laugh-out-loud funny whilst addressing troubling questions about who gets remembered and why. It’s the sort of show that leaves you thinking for days afterwards, whilst also providing an absolute blast in the moment.

Evita Too is anarchic, brilliant, and utterly unmissable. Produced by Judith Dimant Productions and supported by the Southbank Centre, this is theatre that matters.

Tag Archives: Southbank

FARM FATALE

★★★

Queen Elizabeth Hall

FARM FATALE

Queen Elizabeth Hall

★★★

“if you’re up for a slightly trippy, truly unforgettable night of theatre, you’re in the right place”