Tim Crouch’s interesting spectacle is back after a fiercely popular run at the Young Vic last year. Now placed at The Other Palace main theatre and the performance is led by Tim Crouch himself and a different second performer every night. On this evening, we had the wonderful Gwyneth Keyworth.
The script doesn’t change but in essence the performance will, having a different actor every night who is unaware of the script or the journey that their character will take. Crouch leads this second performer into the abyss with small scripts on clipboards, headphones linked to his microphone or at some points leading them with ‘now you say…’.
This journey follows a father coming to a hypnotist’s (Crouch) failing show to confront him as he accidentally killed his daughter. Through this journey we watch as the two men meet, communicate and try to find some resolution in an agonising situation.
This is a piece of theatre unlike anything you could ever see and for that reason I imagine it doesn’t quite hit targets for some members of the audience. The script can often change abruptly, move into a new scene without warning and emotions are left unfinished as the new instructions come forward for the secondary actor. To investigate such a terrible grief such as child death it feels sometimes difficult to leave certain scenes abruptly without an end- or is this perhaps the point to reflect the abruptness of life?
You are left wanting more, more answers, more meaning, more story but maybe this is the point of its very creation then I guess that is a job well done however if you are looking for a cathartic release to a grief you’ve experienced yourself- this I’m not sure you’ll get.
I really enjoy the actor being completely unsure to what is about to happen. Some moments felt like the realest thing I have ever watched on stage due to its moment-to-moment delivery however there is a natural limit to improv when working beside a rehearsed show. If you’re afraid of ruining the show or getting it wrong for Crouch, then being given an instruction might mean you don’t quite deliver to the full potential of what the script is asking for. This is just a small limit I felt the script highlights, and I would have loved to see more opportunities for the secondary actor to give it their full welly without the worry of spoiling the scene for Crouch.
It’s alive and breathing but I’m not sure on where the journey really took me and placed me at the end.
Reviewer: Alice Rose
Reviewed: 8th October 2026
North West End UK Rating: