Scenes of night-time streets in London from a drivers’ point of view are projected at the back of the stage. Three characters define their roles: a brash taxi driver called Jack, a café waitress and would-be novelist called Tia, and Tamara, a care worker and singer.
We know from the first minutes that Jack is going to crash into a truck in the Old Kent Road, between the big Aldi and the Bricklayers’ Arms, lit by the blue neon of the Twice Reformed Ethiopian Church. The build up to this tragedy adds suspense to a piece which is really most exciting for its characterisations.
Jack is under the direction of the omnipotent Hollie, ‘my beloved algorithm who gives me the jobs and showers me with stars.’ It becomes clear that, controlled by the sinister Go-Go taxi company, Hollie is doing much more than taking bookings and giving them out as rides. Jack’s trip to a sexual health clinic on account of a dose of something ends up with a medical diagnosis that he can’t pronounce but interprets as ‘fucked heart.’
Meanwhile Tamara works for a care agency under new ownership with new goals as workers are spending too much time with clients, ‘not smashing any targets.’ She is sent to care for acid-tongued racist Mrs Mitcham, ‘Look, it’s not personal, but I hate you’ she says. A touching relationship is developed between them, however, and Mrs Mitcham yearns for the delights that London has to offer: ‘bubble tea, Tate Moden, chemsex…’
Tia has a successful night at a poetry event in a Shoreditch pub where she meets a publisher who tells her to play down her intellect and play up her working class northern roots: ‘the industry is looking for a slightly less intelligent Zadie Smith.’ Her only security is gone when she gets sacked from her job in a café because she gives food to homeless people.
This is a play of exuberant language and surreal excess, referencing microchips in squirrels and how Ed Milliband is ‘mostly made of vinegar’; and a pervert wanting a tangerine (don’t ask).
There is excellent characterisation from all the actors who play not only all three main characters but also the supporting roles in energetic performances on a stage bare except for chains around which are wrapped neon strips, to emphasise the imprisoning but glittering nature of life in London.
The plot protrudes rather than fits in with these character moments. It relates to The Workers’ Bill which will give rights to those in the gig economy, and the attempts by the employers to stop campaigners agitating for it. This is the least successful part of this enjoyable production.
Southwark Playhouse Borough
Playwright: Max Wilkinson
Cast: Jack Ambrose, Helena Pipe, Bex Smith
Duration: 90 minutes no interval
Until: 3 October 2026