Adapted by OWEN O’NEILL & DAVE JOHNS Based on the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by STEPHEN KING Directed by DAVID ESBJORNSON
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Welcome to the inmates of The Shawshank, a maximum security prison in the US where both the prisoners and officers are corrupt. The play is absolutely amazing, based on Stephen King’s novella that also won 7 Academy Awards in film. Whether you have seen the film or not, you won’t be disappointed by this stage play. The richness and atmosphere on stage is even more absorbing and transfixing. Every actor is highly convincing in telling the story of what happens within those oppressive walls where bullying and sexual assault occurs, which is creatively and sensitively performed without lingering too long.
The narration is strong, giving a sense of what prison life is like for the inmates before it’s fully played out, interjecting at key, emotional parts throughout. At times the tension is palpable and other times a bit lighter. The light and dark of the play makes it soar and gives the prison a sense of reality.
Andy Dufresne, played by Joe McFadden is a banker, who becomes friend with prison fixer. Red, played by Ben Onwukwe and things start to look better for him. Warden Stammas, played by Bill Ward, bullies him and exploits his accountancy talents, prompting him to hatch a cunning plan.
Joe McFadden has terrific stage presence and plays Dufresne with much conviction exuding from the stage to the audience. The way he acts, showing shades of light and dark is highly convincing. He makes you truly care about Dufresne and to develop a desire to cheer him on. Brooksie, played by KennethJay is a strong performance of vulnerability. When Ben Onwukwe and Bill Ward they also command your presence in their captivating narratives.
These are the actors who command the stage in a way that you don’t want to take your eye off the stage, not for a second. The emotions flood into the auditorium. It’s easy to engage throughout and get intrigued by everyone’s story in The Shawshank prison.
All of the actors gave strong performances as they show the bonds and the hardships and rifts. It feels a very together company of actors.
This creation on-stage of The Shawshank Redemption is one that’s hard to forget and one that you won’t want to miss.
Joe McFadden‘s numerous television credits include PC Joe Mason in Heartbeat, Raf in Holby City and, of course, winning the 2017 series of Strictly Come Dancing. Theatre credits include 2:22 A Ghost Story, The Rocky Horror Show and Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d.
Ben Onwukwe boasts a 30 year stage career including leading roles with the RSC and the Royal Court, and eleven years on TV as Recall McKenzie in London’s Burning.
The Constant Wife by W. Somerset Maugham adapted by Laura Wade
review by Louise Cannon
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Laura Wade, having created the successful Netflix adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s The Rivals has delightfully adapted W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife with the RSC. She acutely observes the 1920’s middle class and what is shown is a sophisticated, fast-paced farce that entertains with universal themes from start to finish.
Piano jazz of the 1920’s style, composed by Jamie Cullum fills the room, exquisitely setting the tone for this comedy of manners, The Constant Wife. There’s a bit of his music at certain key moments. The music is beautifully complex, it’s romantic, entrancing with a sense of something foreboding.
Kara Tointon plays the role of Constance Middleton, aka ‘The Constant Wife’. She eats and sleeps well and is losing weight. Her mother, based on this, reckons no one can be unhappy with that happening.
Played by Sara Crowe, Mrs Culver is very particular about her views and is of a certain era that is different from the one her daughter is living in, but also says It brings some humour to societal differences, including when Constance wants to go to work. She brings wit and also some empathy.
A deep subject, central to the plot, is that Constance’s husband is having an affair, but instead of leaving him, she chooses to remain with him. Now, this isn’t as frustrating nor as depressing as it sounds, not with quick-witted lines that has the laughter continuously pouring from the audience as a certain set of circumstances happen as everyone wants, but for various interruptions, can’t tell her what they know. What occurs next is uniquely, devilishly clever and the mark of a rather intelligent, strong-willed woman. The way she carries herself, examining her psychologically, is fascinating to watch unfold and there’s a part where she actually appears to use her butler, Bentley, almost like a counsellor or confidant as she works out her plan of action. Philip Rham plays him with a gentleness and with wry humour.
Kara Tointon plays Constance Middleton with aplomb! She has made the character, convincingly her own. She brings sympathy, empathy and an urge to cheer Constance on. The strength of character oozes beyond the stage, tugging at heartstrings, excellent comic timing and a sense of a woman who knows where she’s headed, even under such challenging circumstances.
Tim Delap plays John Middleton, a surgeon and husband to Constance plays the part of infidelity convincingly. Even though the infidelity is obviously terrible, he draws you into his world and the double life he’s leading.
The understudies/swings were fantastic, they were Jules Brown played Bernard and Sam Flint played Mortimer.
Marie Louise Durham played by Gloria Onitiri plays the character with seduction as she dances and also with a surprising vulnerability but not forgetting that she wants to save herself, which is a big motive in everything she does. There’s an especially desperate moment to save her friendship shows when, quite dramatically, she ends up on the floor.
The Constant Wife is a farce that manages to combine hilarity with the deepness of human life and emotions. The skilful writing coupled with a wide range of acting skills makes it highly entertaining and engaging from start to finish.
*Thank you to ATG Richmond Theatre for the invite to review and ticket. ** Please note that all opinions are my own and I’m not affiliated to any company.
Interview with Ollie Maddigan on theatre play, The Olive Boy
Interview by Louise Cannon
Showing at Southwark Playhouse Borough in January 2026, Olive Boy is award winning (Offie Award) and has previously had successful runs at both Camden and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. I have had the great opportunity to interview Ollie Maddigan about his play, Olive Boy, performed and written about him, with timely voiceovers performed by impressionist/comedian/actress, Ronnie Ancona. We delve into losing his mum at 15, counselling, making sense of the world and more… I thank Ollie for his courage, willingness and honesty in answering my questions on such a sensitive topic as I recognise it’s one thing to perform it, but quite another to be interviewed about it. Here’s a bit about the play and then there’s the interview and details of how you can see the play.
“When Ollie was fifteen, his mum died, and he was the one who found her. The Olive Boy explores his attempt to make sense of life at a time when everything was falling apart, yet he was expected to carry on as normal. It looks at what it means to grow up with that kind of loss, especially as a teenage boy navigating school, friends, first relationships and the pressure to keep quiet about how you’re actually feeling.
A therapist’s recorded voice, played by Ronni Ancona, runs through the piece, reflecting the distance he felt in counselling at the time and the wider silence around boys expressing grief and all the emotions that come with it.”
Firstly, congratulations on having The Olive Boy transfer from Camden Fringe to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it sold out and winning an Offie Award to having a dedicated London season. What does that feel like and how does this inspire you to keep going?
Simply put, it feels great. You never imagine, when you’re first creating a show, that it could grow to this level, so I feel completely privileged. Watching The Olive Boy move from a tiny Camden Fringe run to Edinburgh, to a national tour, to an Offie Award, and now to a London season has genuinely been one of the highlights of my career. It’s been overwhelming in the best way. In terms of what inspires me to keep going, I think you know instinctively when something has reached its end and when it hasn’t. For a long time, I felt there was still more to do with this show and more people it could reach. That said, the run at Southwark might be the final chapter for The Olive Boy and if it is, it feels like the right place to end it.
Secondly, sorry to hear about the loss of your mum at such a tender age.
The Olive Boy is about exploring a 15-year-old Ollie finding mum dead and trying to make sense of the world. What impact did that have on you at 15 years old and the adult you now?
Losing my mum at 15 changed everything. At that age you don’t really have the emotional language to understand something so sudden, so you just try to keep moving and hope you’ll catch up with yourself later. It forced me to grow up quickly, but it also left a lot of confusion that I didn’t unpack until adulthood. As an adult, I can see how much that moment shaped my humour, my outlook, and the way I connect with people. The show has been a way of finally giving that younger version of myself some space to be heard, and in doing so, it has allowed me to understand the adult I became.
What did it feel like looking back to when you were 15 years old and what did you gain from this as that younger you tried to make sense of a world without mum physically in it anymore?
Looking back at myself at 15, I mostly feel a mixture of compassion and frustration. I can see how hard I was trying to make sense of something that didn’t make any sense. When you lose a parent that young, you’re suddenly pushed into a world that feels far too adult, but you’re still very much a child trying to keep up. What I gained from revisiting that younger version of me was perspective. I realised how much he was carrying without the tools to process it, and how he used humour and distraction to survive it. Writing the show allowed me to acknowledge that, rather than judge it. In a way, it gave that younger me the space and understanding he never had at the time.
Therapy is still a bit taboo for some people, but it was more so for boys at a certain time, and a bit for even girls at a certain time too, but what was it like for you to attend counselling? You talk about reflecting the distance you felt, what effect did that have and would you ever consider counselling or recommend it to people now therapy is slowly opening up to wider ranges of people?
Counselling was a complicated experience for me at that age. It wasn’t something boys really talked about, and I remember feeling quite distanced from it, almost like I was watching myself go through the motions rather than actually opening up. I didn’t have the vocabulary to express what I was feeling, so it felt easier to stay on the surface.
That distance definitely stayed with me for a long time. It meant a lot of emotions got stored rather than processed, and I’m only now, as an adult, realising how much that shaped me.
Would I consider counselling now or recommend it? Absolutely. I think the stigma is slowly shifting, and people are starting to see therapy for what it really is: a space to understand yourself better. I wish I’d had the tools back then to make the most of it, but I can recognise now how valuable it can be, especially for young people who are trying to navigate grief or upheaval.
After your mum died, there was a pressure felt to keep quiet about your emotions. What was living up to that pressure like?
There was definitely a pressure to keep quiet about what I was feeling after my mum died, and living up to that was exhausting in ways I didn’t understand at the time. When you’re young, you think staying silent is the same as staying strong, so you push everything down and hope it will sort itself out.
Looking back, that pressure created a kind of emotional numbness. I became very good at performing “being fine,” even when I wasn’t. It took years to recognise how much energy went into holding everything in, and how isolating that can be. The show has helped me confront that silence and acknowledge the cost of it.
When trying to make sense of this world you were living in without your mum, what conclusions did you come to between then and now?
When I was 15, I didn’t come to many real conclusions at all. I think that’s the point: you try to make sense of a world that suddenly doesn’t make sense anymore, and most of what you land on is survival rather than understanding. At the time, my conclusion was simply to keep going, keep my head down, and hope things would eventually feel normal again.
Looking back now, the adult version of me can see that there is no neat conclusion to losing someone so central. What you find instead is acceptance. You learn that grief doesn’t disappear; it just changes shape as you grow. You learn that you can carry loss and still build a life around it. And you realise that the world without my mum physically in it is still a world she shaped through the memories, the humour, the resilience, and the perspective she left behind.
Ronnie Ancona plays your counsellor in a recording. What was that like to have her on-board and be on stage yourself, knowing it was just her voice that carried through?
I mean, come on — it’s Ronni Ancona. Who better to play a character called “The Voice” than someone famous for her vocal impressions?
For me as a performer, it was a strange but exciting dynamic. You’re on stage responding to someone who isn’t physically there, but because it’s Ronnie, the performance feels alive. Her delivery is so precise and nuanced that it gives you something real to play off. It elevated the scenes and added a layer to the show that audiences always respond to.
How did you inject humour into what feels heartfelt and such a personal play?
Teenage boys are funny. No matter what they’re going through, they’re crude, ridiculous, and absolutely convinced they know everything. I wanted to show that when you’re grieving as a teenager, you don’t suddenly stop being a teenager. You can be dealing with the biggest loss of your life and still be just as focused on trying to get past the child-blocker on the computer.
That contrast felt important to capture – the messy, contradictory reality of being fifteen and grieving, but still undeniably a teenage boy.
What do you get personally from telling your story on stage in-front of a live audience?
There’s something grounding about standing in front of a room full of people and saying, “This happened, and it shaped me,” and feeling them meet you with empathy rather than judgement. It’s not about reliving the past; it’s about making sense of it in real time. When audiences laugh at the stupid teenage moments or fall silent during the heavier ones, it reminds me that grief is universal, and that there’s value in being open about it.
What do you hope the audience will get out of your show, Olive Boy?
What I hope audiences take away from The Olive Boy is a sense of recognition. Whether they’ve experienced grief themselves or not, I want them to connect with the idea that growing up is messy, complicated, and never as straightforward as you expect it to be. If people leave feeling seen, or feeling like their own story makes a bit more sense, then the show has done its job. Above all, I want people to feel that, even in difficult chapters, there can still be humour, connection, and a way forward.
Where can people follow you/your play?
O.maddigan on Instagram for me and Theoliveboyshow on Instagram for the show!
Interview with Actress, Joanna Holden on the play Countess Dracula, A Gothic Comedy Premiering at Camden People’s Theatre 29th Oct – 1st Nov 2025 see further details after the Q&A
Interview by Louise Cannon (Lou), Bookmarks and Stages
Countess Dracula is primed and ready for Halloween. Just what does this fabled creature have to do with the Menopause? Inspired by Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula, the play turns everything on its head as it promises to explore it all in a uniquely entertaining way.
I recently had the privilege of asking some questions about the play to Joanna Holden. First, here’s a little bit about her working class background and what she’s become renowned for, then we shall begin with the questions. After this, you will find a link to how you can see this play at Halloween.
Joanna Holden is a renowned performer with over 25 years experience as an actor, director, clown and facilitator. Born and raised in a working class family in Scunthorpe, despite a career spanning the globe she has never lost her northern roots. A long time collaborator with Told By An Idiot and John Wright she has also worked with Directors such as Roxana Silbert, Stephen Daldry, Cal McCrystal and Angela De Castro. In an extensive career Joanna has worked with companies including Cirque du Soleil, Kneehigh, The RSC, The National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Hull Truck, Soho, The Royal Festival Hall, York Theatre Royal, Theatre By The Lake, Bolton Octagon, Northern Stage and Sheffield Crucible.
What attracted you to the role of Countess Dracula?
The idea that a woman could play one of literature’s most terrifying characters and express that cold blooded, dark, evil soul was exciting to me, especially as a woman of 57. I might not have lived thousands of years, but there’s an awareness of the years I’ve lived, if that makes sense. Going through the menopause, other Dracula characteristics resonated with me: an acute sense of my mortality, a fear of ageing and feeling like the living dead, and the horror that is the menopause for some women. The lack of sleep, what can I do with that nighttime wakefulness and the madness that comes with it! On a more positive note, it has also been interesting to explore the power that Dracula has over his world and the people in it, at a time when I felt I was losing power in my own life. What delight can I find in that, and what lessons can I and we, the audience, explore in that!
There have been many adaptations of Bram Stoker’s original creation of Count Dracula, from stage to film to even a cartoon on TV when he’s a duck. What drew you to the classic book and then to put a whole different spin on it, and do you think Bram Stoker would approve if he was alive today?
One day I was slumped on the underground, holding up my chins, contemplating my tiredness and lack of libido. Who was this person I didn’t quite relate to? The thought of sucking young men’s blood for their testosterone came into my mind, weird as it may sound, and I started to contemplate the idea of a female Dracula allowing her rage, her appetite, her need to survive to be let loose on the world. I started to read the novel and also spoke to other menopausal women who seemed to relate to this comparison, and so began to explore the role of Countess Dracula through the gaze of a menopausal woman. The Dracula or vampire myth is a fertile genre to be played with, adapted and explored, and it continues to fascinate us, which is why I guess there are so many adaptations. I think women in Bram Stoker’s time were viewed, unfortunately, very differently. I would hope Bram would be open minded enough to be excited by the idea!
Do you feel plays that re interpret a classic character draw not only something different from the original text, but draw people to be curious about it again, whether they already know it or are newcomers to it?
I think it draws out recognisable elements from the text and observes them through a different lens for a new audience, using those elements to explore a new angle in an ever changing world. Dracula is in all our psyches, everyone has a notion of who he is and what it’s about, so we are given a head start there and are able to subvert this to say something new. I hope that makes sense. At the same time, the piece should also hopefully stand alone, whether you have read Dracula or not.
The play confronts the menopause and all that it can bring, its rage, sadness, madness and humour. What do you hope to get across to the audience with this essential topic and mixture of emotions?
Half of the audience will go through this or will have been through it, and the other half will have mothers, lovers, etc., who will experience this transition in one way or another. We ran some workshops in Scunthorpe with menopausal women, and they had so much to share and say. They all had different journeys, but there was an overwhelming sense of the need to share, to laugh, to talk, to cry, to be open about their fears, and the sessions were so cathartic. I hope that we can find some of that in our show. It is a journey, and you are changed by it, so how do we embrace that, find acceptance, and at the same time harness the power that comes with the experience?
I have no idea if you’ve been through menopause yourself or not. If you have, is there anything in the play you could relate to, or what research did you feel you had to do so the message was authentic?
I am post menopausal, as are many of my friends, and of course on our team there are partners of menopausal women. The brain fog, the memory loss, the lack of self esteem and confidence, the questioning of who you are, the being disappeared and wanting to disappear, the wanting to shout expletives, they were all there whilst making the show, so they’ve become part of the show. And also, the delightful opportunity to play Countess Dracula with all her power and not give a monkeys what the world thinks!
This adaptation playfully interrogates society’s treatment of ageing women. How is the playful nature achieved, and how important do you feel it is to bring humour to quite serious topics?
I guess we know that it can be a difficult journey, but we don’t want to go to the theatre and see exactly our own lives. We want to be able to laugh at the ridiculous elements, the mad situations when you can’t remember a name, or you’ve put the TV remote in the fridge, or you’ve set off somewhere on the wrong day for the wrong meeting. Through entertainment, we can find a united laughter of recognition and community.
What do you like about Halloween, and do you have any traditions or superstitions you follow?
The opportunity to be naughty, to be outside of etiquette, and to trick or treat, and the opportunity to scare and be scared. It’s the end of the summer, and the dark nights are coming in, with the exciting fear of what happens in the darkness, whether there are ghosts and evil spirits in that darkness. I like to have a tin of sweets by my door for the youngsters, but I can’t fit into my skeleton costume anymore!
Where can people follow you on social media?
@ofthejackel on Instagram is the best way to keep up with everything that is going on with the show.
Countess Dracula will run at Camden People’s Theatre from 29 October – 1 November 2025. Ticket link is HERE.
Interview with Abigail Hood about the theatre play – Monster
by Louise Cannon – Bookmarks and Stages
Welcome Abigail Hood to Bookmarks and Stages, thank you for your time. What has been created is an insightful interview as we delve into writing and performing a play with a full cast. We also delve deep into the play’s themes that deal with trauma and abuse, touch upon the research and a real case and self-care and more… There are great photos to show you, a little about the play and then onto the interview itself and how you can go and see this gripping, challenging sounding play. There will also be post-show Q&A sessions with representatives from Advance on Thursday 2nd and Thursday 9th October at Seven Dials Theatre. Please see further details after the interview.
Abigail Hood, Lauren Downie, Lisa Ellis, Steve Hay, Sarah Waddell, Kevin Tomlinson
Set in Glasgow in 2006, and following a story spanning two decades, Monster follows Kayleigh ”°Kay”± Grey, a teenager prone to trouble whose fierce loyalty to her best friend Zoe often tips into dangerous retaliation. When a single act of violence shatters the lives of everyone around her, the play asks searching questions about culpability, rehabilitation and whether forgiveness is ever truly possible… At its heart, Monster follows the devastating consequences of a violent act committed by 15-year-old Kayleigh Grey. Moving between the events that led up to the tragedy and her adult life, the play asks whether someone raised in violence is destined to repeat it – and whether true forgiveness or redemption can ever be found…
You are both playwright and performer of Monster, how does that feel to be able to have that much creative control and how does it feel to bring your play to life, when before, it was in your head and on a page?
It’s an exhilarating experience to be both playwright and performer of Monster. When I was writing, I would roleplay each character on my own—improvising their words and trying to get under their skin to understand their motivations and triggers. I always knew I would play Kay because I wanted to challenge myself, as both writer and actor, to make her as three-dimensional as possible—to explore someone capable of something terrible while still finding the humanity within.
As a performer, stepping into the world I created is both strange and wonderful. It started as a very solitary process—me with my laptop and research—and then suddenly you’re in a rehearsal room with a director, cast, and creative team who bring their own ideas and energy. The play stops belonging only to you and starts to take on a life of its own, which is the most thrilling part.
Performing and writing are two very different skill sets, what or who inspired you to both and do you ever find when you’re performing, that you do it differently from how you imagined when you first put your words down on a page?
My inspiration to become a performer came when I was nine years old and selected as one of the juvenile dancers in the annual professional pantomime at the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds, my hometown. The whole process was glorious: Sunday dance calls, a week of intensive rehearsals in the theatre with the professionals before opening, and then eight weeks of daily performances—I was in heaven! We were only allowed to do one show a day, but I would gladly have done both. I loved everything about being in the theatre: the magic of the stage, the camaraderie of working together, and the joy of sharing the final performance with an audience. My mum still remembers how I could (and would) recite the entire pantomime, playing every role! Though I was a shy child in everyday life, on stage something else would take over.
I didn’t consciously decide to become a playwright, but I’ve always loved telling stories. It wasn’t until a period of ‘resting’ as an actor that I finally began to write. Still, I think the spark was lit much earlier, during one of my first professional acting jobs—playing Alice in the original production of Polly Stenham’s That Face at the Royal Court—when I witnessed the extraordinary impact a play can have. Seeing how it provoked conversations, challenged perspectives, and demanded urgent social reflection made me want to create work with that same power.
I’m also hugely inspired by the writing of Simon Stephens, Mike Bartlett, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who write with honesty and urgency about the world we live in now. For me, the impulse to write comes from a need to explore the “grey areas” of life—those complex, uncomfortable spaces that, when shared on stage, might help us understand each other a little better and, hopefully, nurture a more tolerant society.
This all said, I think I was always destined to become an actor and writer. A few weeks ago, I found some old schoolwork from when I was twelve: the task was to write an autobiography (an ambitious undertaking for twelve-year-olds!) and we’d been asked to brainstorm facts about ourselves. Under the ‘likes’ category, I had written: acting, dancing, and writing stories.
In terms of performing a role, it is often different from the way I imagined, as I am interacting with other actors who bring their own unique energy to their roles. They too are making choices and creating their version of the character, so the way a line hits you can make the response come out differently from the way you planned. Pre-conceived ideas often go out of the window once rehearsals begin.
Monster follows Kayleigh Grey, raised in an abusive household, hooks up with a bullied teenager who has a strong bond with her. How did you get inside the minds of such complex characters to make them realistic?
I did a great deal of research into abused children and children who had committed violent acts — reading biographies and autobiographies, newspaper articles, watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, and speaking to psychologists and criminologists. Research was just the starting point. After that, I tried to get inside my characters’ heads — finding out what made each of them tick: their fears, hopes, triggers, and complexities. To do this I did lots of character developing writing exercises and improvising dialogue with myself. In particular, I wanted Kayleigh to feel fully three-dimensional—to reveal her humanity and show she’s more than the violent act she committed.
What emotions did you experience when both acting and writing the part of Kayleigh Grey?
When I was writing Kayleigh, I felt a mix of sadness, empathy, and deep distress for the harm she caused and the fact that the worst part of her was allowed to prevail. I wanted to understand her fully—her fears, her hopes, the moments of light in her as well as the darkness—without excusing the harm she caused. She does something horrifying, but that doesn’t make her a bad person through and through. There are qualities in her that are recognisable, even likeable, and it was important to me that the audience could see that complexity.
When I play Kayleigh, those emotions become very immediate. I think about the many children I read about and researched who committed these kinds of acts—the people they were before, and the people those acts turned them into. You have to hold both sides in your head: the vulnerable child who made choices, and the consequences of those choices. I feel it is really important to show her both as a feral, abused teenager and then as a grown woman building a life but plagued by the guilt of her childhood crime. It’s emotionally intense, but it’s also what makes the role so fascinating to inhabit.
The play explores violence, trauma and forgiveness, which you say are urgent themes, why do you feel they are important themes to explore in a play?
I think they’re important because they’re so often talked about in headlines or statistics, but not always in a way that captures the human side. Violence, trauma, forgiveness — these are things that shape people’s lives in complicated, messy ways. They don’t fit neatly into boxes of right or wrong, good or bad. A play gives you the space to sit with all of that, to feel it rather than just read about it.
For me, theatre is about empathy. It’s one thing to know something happened; it’s another to be in the room with characters living through the consequences of it. Violence and trauma don’t just end when the event is over — they ripple outwards, shaping families, relationships, whole communities. And forgiveness, or the absence of it, is just as complex. People talk about forgiveness like it’s a single moment, a decision you make and then move on, but it isn’t like that. It can take years, or it might never come at all. I think a play can hold all those contradictions — the harm done, the grief, the anger, the humanity of everyone involved — in a way that feels real. These themes matter because they raise questions we don’t always have easy answers to, but I think they’re questions worth asking.
You drew upon some harrowing real-life cases, such as that of Mary Bell, what went through your mind as you studied her case and how did you choose what to depict in your play?
When I read about the case of Mary Bell, what struck me most wasn’t just the crime itself, but everything around it — the childhood leading up to it, the public reaction, the way the media talked about her. There’s the act, which is horrifying, but then there’s this whole story of neglect, violence, and missed chances to step in before things got so bad.
For the play, I didn’t want to retell any one real case. Instead, I wanted to capture the patterns I kept seeing across so many stories: children sometimes failed by the systems meant to protect them, the complexity of their inner lives, the tension between the harm they suffered and the harm they caused. It was less about the details of any single case and more about what those cases revealed about society, about responsibility, about what happens when intervention comes too late or not at all.
In Monster, Kayleigh isn’t Mary Bell or anyone else — she’s fictional — but she carries echoes of the things I read and watched: the loneliness, the anger, the tiny glimpses of hope alongside the devastation. I wanted to create a character who felt real, not a headline or a symbol, so the audience could see both the child who needed help and the person who did something terrible. Choosing what to depict was always about serving that balance — showing the roots of her actions without excusing them, and leaving space for the audience to sit with the complexity rather than be handed a simple answer.
In what seems like an era of “self-care”, did you take some time to digest what you were ultimately creating and how did you take time to separate yourself from the facts you were reading about and what you are depicting on stage?
I think when you’re writing about something this heavy, you have to find a way to carry it without letting it completely take over. Some of the real-life cases I read about stayed with me for days — the details, the families, the children involved. It was impossible not to feel the weight of it.
But I always reminded myself that what I was creating was fiction. It was inspired by real patterns and questions but Kayleigh and her story were my way of processing all of that in a creative space rather than retelling someone’s real-life pain. That helped me keep some distance.
I also gave myself breaks from the material when I needed them. Sometimes that just meant stepping away for a day or working on a different part of the script — something less intense — so I could come back to it with a clearer head. And I think the act of shaping it into a story, giving it structure and characters, was part of how I separated myself too. It stops being a list of facts and becomes something that can spark empathy, conversation, and understanding, rather than just adding to the horror.
What do you hope the audience will take away when they leave the theatre?
I would like audiences to leave the theatre understanding that things are rarely black and white. I hope they will warm to Kayleigh to begin with and then feel torn when they witness the devastation, and irreparable damage, she causes to the family of the child she kills. I hope the play prompts questions about society and encourages reflection on forgiveness and justice.
I also hope audiences think about how society treats vulnerable young people, and in particular young women, which I believe is an incredibly important issue. This is why the production is supporting and supported by Advance, a charity that helps women and girls who experience violence and abuse, which can in some cases lead to their being trapped in a cycle of abuse and criminality. Advance helps them break this cycle and regain control of their lives. As part of our work with this charity a number of young women will participate in workshops led by workshop leaders from Advance before watching the play. There will also be post-show Q&A sessions with representatives from Advance on Thursday 2nd and Thursday 9th October.
What’s next for you?
First, a holiday! After that, I’m looking forward to new projects. I’ve already written another play, so I’m excited to see where that might go, alongside other acting opportunities that come up.
Interview with Lorna Rose Treen about 24 Hour Diner People
Soho Theatre – 8th – 13th September 2025
Interview conducted by Louise Cannon
I had the pleasure of interviewing the award-winning actor Lorna Rose Treen about her popular show, 24 Hour Diner People now at Soho Theatre, London. In August 2025, it sold out all 30 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, coupled with many glowing reviews, it’s the successful stage show you don’t want to miss! Find out a bit about it below and then onto the interview. At the end of the interview, you can find out how you can get your hands on tickets so you can see the show yourselves and the awards won. *Please note, I am not affiliated to anyone or anything.
24 Hour Diner People offers up a full-fat collection of eccentric, escapist, and delightfully silly characters – all served with a side of proper jokes. Expect to meet a waitress who dreams of flying, a trucker with unusually long arms, a woman who’s kept her umbilical cord, a 1960s spy on a caffeine high, and a teenager giddy from her first kiss – all somehow coexisting in a strange, time-warped roadside diner.
1. You sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and had to add extra dates due to demand for your show 24 Hour Diner People. What did that feel like at the largest festival in the world and what are your hopes as your tour it to Soho theatre, London?
It felt like an administrative error! But no it was honestly so nice to see the tickets flying, especially because no one had seen the finished show yet so it was mostly selling because people wanted to spend time with me whatever it was I was gonna do. What a lovely compliment!
2. You have some eccentric characters in your show. Are there particular people or idiosyncrasies you’ve observed in human behaviour to create your characters?
I love watching documentaries and imitating the way we used to speak in the past. I am a nightmare to watch TV with because I parrot whatever is being said and try to copy the intonation. My grandma taught me this, we were a nightmare duo.
3. What inspired you to create characters that are seen as being “voiceless” and giving them a voice and in a comical way?
I like watching the background characters in films and TV, especially from years gone by. I love giving a 5 minute monologue to a character who is a background character for a reason. So often these are women, whilst the men get to be funny in the spotlight, so it’s fun to put the attention on the women and make them get the laughs.
4. The diner you’ve created sounds brilliant fun. You say it’s a fantasy Americana seen through your Midlander eyes. What was the pull for you to build this type dineras the premise for you show?
Fringe is long, and if your show has life after fringe – it’s even longer. I wanted to build an environment I wanted to lock in and spend a lot of time in. Americans who’ve seen the show have commented that I clearly love the mundanity of the day to day, but for me a diner in America is a most exciting place to be. Growing up there were diners in every sitcom, drama, musical and film. Even though they weren’t real, they hold a place of play and joy andescapism built entirely from fiction and dreams, that you just couldn’t get in Redditch’s (now defunct) Chicago Rock Cafe.
5. If you could meet anyone in a diner, who would it be and why?
I’d like to meet James Broom from sixthform because he still owes me £20.
6. You’re no stranger to comedy and have worked with Emily Atack on her show (ITV), Time of the Week (BBC R4), true crime mockumentary, Criminally Untrue and more… what was it like to work on such huge hits and people and how do you take those experiences forward into your expanding comedic career?
Time of the Week is my radio show I co-created with Jonathan Oldfield. We star in it alongside Sian Clifford, who is unbelievably funny. It’s such an honour to be stupid alongside her. She’s like, properly properly good. Series 2 is coming out later this year, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the nonsense we have written and made Sian say. The writers room and cast are made up of people we not only find incredibly funny, but also people who we love working with. I think sometimes solo performing can feel a little lonely (not when you’re on stage connecting with an audience, but all the organising and writing process). So time of the week is a real beacon for me to connect with my fellow character colleagues like Ada Player and Alice Cockayne, Jodie Mitchell, and Jonathan. And touch base with some of the best new writers like Priya Hall. It’s a real delight to bounce your ideas off someone you think is the funniest person in the world. There’s a reason why American comedy is so successful and I think a big factor is the writer room culture. It really grows and nurtures talent.
7. Going back to 24 Hour Diner People, what do you hope people will take away from it.
I just want them to have had a stupid nice time. I don’t think my comedy will ever make you learn nothin.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 