choke me – Hen & Chickens

choke me – written and performed by Alexandra Montalbano – is a new one-woman reinterpretation of Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega.

The plot follows Cas as she navigates the bizarre love triangle that she finds herself in. Trapped in a loveless marriage with her older, boring, cheating husband, she starts having an affair of her own with her husband’s son – her stepson. The plot jumps around, as Cas – in relaying the story to the audience – forgets things and has to go back and explain past events in order to bring the audience up to speed. As such, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the audience engaged, although moment to moment it can sometimes be hard to work out where a scene is leading and what it’s purpose in the plot is. The play leans more towards comedy than drama but touches on serious themes such as patriarchy and misogyny; the male characters are all chauvinistic to one degree or another, while Cas herself is trapped by the expectations put upon her by her parents and by patriarchal society as a whole.

Montalbano’s performance is excellent. Cas is an extremely likable, with a wry, self-conscious sense of humour and a relatable awkwardness. She makes for a very engaging narrator and protagonist; her delivery is entertaining, and she is written and performed with enough depth that the audience care about her and her predicament, and about whether she will work up the courage to take control of her own life.

Montalbano also plays every other character in the story: Cas’s parents, her husband, her stepson, her best friend, and a handful of other small parts. She does so with great skill – and with skilful direction from her co-director Brock Looser – giving each character a distinct voice, physicality, and personality. Most characters have a signature pose or mime associated with them, which makes distinguishing the characters in group scenes very easy.

However, one fairly major problem with the multi-rolling is that at times it can slow the pace down, as Montalbano takes a moment to fully switch from one character to another. As a result, in scenes heavy with back-and-forth dialogue, such as an extended conversation between Cas and her best friend Luce – the pace drops substantially. In these scenes, the well-written script isn’t as punchy as it could be, and jokes don’t land as well as they should.

By contrast, when given a chance to spend more time as one character, Montalbano shines. Far-and-away the funniest scene is when the serious, business-minded husband who rarely ever drinks gets uncharacteristically drunk at his 43^rd birthday party and decides to give an incoherent, rambling, boring (for the characters – not the audience!) speech. Montalbano plays him with incredible deadpan comic timing.

There are two cameras on stage, each with a live feed to its own monitor. On paper, these reinforce the themes of the play; Cas finds herself caught between two men, under their scrutiny. When she addresses the cameras directly, it is also reminiscent of Peep Show, which is appropriate given this play’s sitcom-esque plot. However, the cameras and live feeds are more distracting than they are effective; there is a slight delay on the live feed, and Montalbano’s performance is so engaging that the audience would rather watch her in person than on a screen.

Overall choke me is a fun and engaging play which showcases an incredible performance from Alexandra Montalbano, but which is held back here and there by some sluggish pacing and superfluous technical elements.

Reviewer: Charles Edward Pipe

Reviewed: 27th September 2025

North West End UK Rating: