PLAYFIGHT at London’s Soho Theatre

Sophie Cox as Keira: photo Paul Blakemore

Soho Theatre in Dean Street is one of London’s most popular theatre and comedy locations with a bar that literally buzzes and whose walls are adorned with theatre memorabilia. Julie Grogan’s Playfight is currently playing in the second level quasi-studio space, with some seats on the stage and others tiered or on an upper level. It is an intimate space which allows the audience to be engaged in the performance, with every gesture and expression captured with ease.

This play cannot help but take you back in time, to those teenage years filled with angst and confusion, where the future seemed exciting but at the same time foreboding, an awareness that the security and safety of childhood and teenage years would soon be replaced by that awful term: growing up, or rather loss of innocence and bravado.

Julia Grogan’s superb writing has given Playfight a life and essence of its own. The fabulous casting of Sophie Cox (Keira), Nina Cassells (Zainab) and Lucy Mangan (Lucy) is the perfect corridor for this play. Their chemistry is tangible. The swagger, mouthiness, daring, vulnerability, hesitation and intimacy takes us back to the playground where, in a corner, we would swap and share stories, shocking but also cementing a friendship that demands loyalty and trust and where transgressions are momentary and forgiven.

L-R: Lucy Mangan (Lucy) and Nina Cassells (Zainab): photo Paul Blakemore

There, under a tree (bright pink ladder – set Hazel Low with lighting Kate Bonney) the three circle and command their space together (Aline David) as the lyrical script ebbs and flows alongside, sometimes at speed so rapid that it could be a salvo, firing. We, in the audience, are privy to their intimacy, watching intently and listening to every word and confession. Stories shared with a degree of hyperbole, as teenagers are wont to do. Exaggeration, flaunting and building up the daring – yes, we all know those moments.

But beneath the surface simmers a sign of what might follow and it is scaringly uncomfortable. We know that those moments do not last forever and some of the dialogue hints at tragedy that will ensue.

This is a pacy production, staged effectively by Emma Callander and pulled off absolutely by these three actors. Laugh out loud moments, subdued sadness at others. Stories morph into outrageous tales. Everything receives a swipe. There is an honesty to their fabrication, their exaggeration which is so typical of the young who try to impress. With all their bravado, these are vulnerable young girls who, we all recognise.

Grogan is quoted:

‘They think they know everything about the world, but they really don’t.

They think they know everything about sex, but they really don’t.

They just don’t have a clue.’

This may not be the teen experience of your own youth but it is entirely recognisable and you will be left with images and moments that will play in your mind as you make your way home. Funny at times, meaningful throughout. Only playing for one hour with its many vignettes but packing so much in that it will leave you breathless.

Grogan describes Playfight as ‘funny, brutal and joyful’. You may agree or replace those adjectives with your own. Either way, it is breathtaking.

A resounding success in Edinburgh, I have no doubt that Julia Grogan’s Playfight will receive similar acclaim in London.

Running time: 70 mins, no interval

Photos: Paul Blakemore

Soho Theatre, Dean Street

Playing until Saturday 25 April 2025