Four Face Theatre’s ‘Mates’ begins with an appealing comic problem: four friends, based on a misplaced promise, have secured the resources and financial backing to stage a new production but have yet to decide what that production should be. Each arrives with different artistic ambitions, and their attempts to develop a coherent piece soon become a contest between personalities, insecurities and conflicting definitions of meaningful theatre.
This framework gives the company considerable room for invention, and the action repeatedly shifts into imagined productions proposed by the characters, enabling the show to experiment with contrasting genres and performance styles. Within this theatrical patchwork are amusing observations about masculinity, social privilege, conspiracy culture and the pressure to achieve something significant. There are flashes of sharp humour, as well as a recognisable understanding of how quickly collaboration between friends can expose old resentments.
However, the production’s enthusiasm is rarely matched by sufficient restraint and much of the performance unfolds through raised voices, frantic movement and forceful exchanges played against loud music. The sustained intensity initially generates excitement but gradually becomes exhausting for the audience, and instead of gathering momentum, the show appears to be constantly pushing for an impact it has not allowed itself the space to earn.
The staging decisions compound this problem. The actors frequently occupy opposing sides of the theatre and deliver their lines across the full width of the playing area at considerable volume. This may be intended to emphasise the growing divisions between the characters, but its repetition creates an agitated atmosphere and prevents the dialogue from developing texture. The comedy also needs variation, pauses, changes of rhythm and moments in which an audience can properly absorb what has been said. When every exchange is treated as a climax, individual jokes and emotional discoveries struggle to register.
Kieran Urquhart as JJ, Ciaran Duce as Luke, Joseph Ollman as Max and Jack Staddon as Cosmo nevertheless attack the material with energy and obvious commitment. Their friendship and shared chemistry is evident, and the production is strongest when it allows the dynamic between them to emerge without excessive theatrical force, with the quieter glimpses of disappointment, vulnerability and affection suggesting a more emotionally engaging play beneath the surface, but they arrive too late and are too quickly overwhelmed by further commotion.
Even intentional chaos needs careful control, but here, the mayhem too often appears insufficiently organised, leaving the performance feeling louder and busier than it of course needs to be. A more disciplined approach to pace, movement and vocal dynamics would help clarify both the comedy and the relationships at its centre.
‘Mates’ contains an imaginative central device, an energetic ensemble and several genuinely funny moments. Yet it never settles upon a strong enough dramatic direction to unite its many ideas. With further refinement, and considerably greater trust in stillness, it could become the thoughtful comedy about friendship and creative frustration that is currently struggling to make itself heard.
Reviewer: Alan Stuart Malin
Reviewed: 23rd August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: