ALL AT SEA
Live Theatre
★★★★
A sharply drawn, heart‑tugging comedy that sails between humour and humanity with effortless charm
Alison Carr’s All at Sea is a fantastically tense deep dive into deceit and the limits to withstanding manipulation. An intriguing fictionalisation based on the infamous “disappearance” of John Darwin or ‘Canoe Man’ back in the early 00’s, this play dives deep into the twisted (and comical) fabrication of a man’s death and the pressure for his wife to spin debt-provoked lies. This play does very well to alter details of the story and make for an up-to-date imagining of what it might take to hide faking you (or your husband’s) death.
Maria Crocker’s direction feels natural and intuitive to the needs of the play, leaning into the light and shade of the script when it feels just right to. The audience trust that wherever the limits of the piece are pushed, Crocker ensures everything is grounded in precision and surprising choices that make you sit right up in your seat, just when you think you know what is coming. Actors, ‘Sarah Belcher’ (Deborah) and ‘Phil Corbitt’ (Colin), lunge out of darkness and transition seamlessly into the next steps of their schemes, and feel immediately trusted to handle the pace of the writing. Though the piece is undoubtedly quite funny, there are many moments this humour could go even further. It would be good to see the physical comedy of the play pushed even further to its limits to match the wit of the script- especially as sharply directed physicality breathes such life into so many of the piece’s most chilling moments.
Both actors bring this two-hander to life in different ways, letting the masks of their characters slip just the right amount. Admittedly, it takes a moment for the characters and script to interlock neatly with one another for the first while of the play, but once Corbitt and Belcher are off, there is no stopping them. The horror and tension of recontextualised dialogue is disgustingly good- both portraying their characters with true conviction and great force. Corbitt’s strength lies in his physicality; bringing Colin’s most grotesque qualities to the forefront with striking choices that make the character so easy to hate. Belcher is an incredible face actor, who brims with talent as she delivers hauntingly pathetic monologues. Her delivery of writing call-backs makes for some of the most hair razing moments of the piece.
Set across months spent in the couple’s ironically ‘live, laugh, love’ sprinkled living room, the production is brilliant at re-inventing itself through clever design and spoken recontextualization. Hannah Sibai’s set and costume design compliments the twists and turns of Carr’s winding script and creates a playfully macabre space for the action to race towards its climax. Gauze and trapdoors create some of the show’s most eery and unexpected moments and allow the cabin Colin’s cabin fever to seep through the stage.
This is all supported beautifully by Catja Hamilton’s entrancing lighting design, which plunges each scene head-first from tailspin to tailspin. Alongside Hamilton, Roma Yagnik (the show’s sound design and composer alongside Ziad Jabero) never opts for the obvious choice. The lighting and sound play off each other with electric chemistry deserving of the strength of acting and keeps the audience firmly on their toes throughout.
This play is a truly successful and fascinatingly empathetic perspective on the weight of upkeeping your spouse’s deception. All at Sea is a darkly funny exploration of the lengths people have gone to escape financial burdens and the waves they must ride to suffer the consequences of their actions.
ALL AT SEA
Live Theatre
Reviewed on 29th September 2026
by Molly Knox
Photography by Von Fox Promotions
