Two decades ago, South Park mocked Paris Hilton mercilessly with an episode that has never lost a moment of relevance in the dialogue of celebrity and influencer culture. I live with high confidence, personal empowerment, and execute my daily routine with style and excellence. In other words, I’m part of the Gen Z ‘slay everyday era’ and that means when it comes to the adventures of the World’s latest Space tourists, the Pink Power Crew, I’m ready for the ride, just like a few real celebrities were on the Blue Origin spacecraft last year.
Such is the pace of subculture, the space fad has already been replaced multiple times over, however, along with a packed theatre I’m the keen audience to three women, a man and the disembodied voice interviewing them. The PPC are destined for a quick cruise to space, however this is space in the age of the influencer and that suggests it could be vacuous. With a few mutterings of Bezos and barely a sniff of musk, the premise at large is ripe and wholly relevant for some seriously funny deep space exploration. The problem is, in space no one can hear an influencer scream, and in a small theatre epilepsy inducing white led lighting turn a punchy paparazzi character introduction into a literal eyesore. This is unfortunate because your eyes really do need to recover from the flashing and that means you lose a little of the opening’s impact which does ignite in the correct sequence.
Our four characters and their quirks are revealed in respective monologues, but the levels of detail aren’t particularly equal. Celebrity pop star cum zen obsessed health guru Kylie (Hattie Greaves), fading actress Edna (Grace Hale), fashion journalist Saffron Martinelli (Faye Thomson) and Blake (Tathum Baker), the rich man child whose presence on the trip of a lifetime has been orchestrated by his father’s money and his mother’s poisoning at the hands of a misjudged glass of tap water. Yes, that is how silly things are intended to be but making silly special isn’t easy.
The cast balance and riff well off of each other. This is the absolute core selling point of the show because unfortunately, the writing doesn’t explore the kinds of final frontiers that could help things truly stand out. Acting wise, Kylie’s cute personality is key counterpoint to savvy journalist Saffron who draws humour from a long list of minor social media references, whilst Blake takes the captain’s chair when it comes to overall plot direction. Edna, as a kind of Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher caricature, has some funny set-ups but bar a clever musical interlude on a classic advert the plot cul-de-sac’s mount and the potential of a crew sacrifice to survive doesn’t quite hold up to comedic scrutiny.
Overall, the play boosts and drifts with enough structure to take shape as an amusing fringe anecdote. The action moves with fluidity and although the piece might have some obvious foibles, pace & the cast’s willingness to have fun maintain the dynamic and this is key to elevating the material. Airborne Theatre have no shortage of talent, enthusiasm and potential to reach full power but this rocket struggles to reach the stratospheric heights it promises only because it forgets to explore the intricacies of what it is to be a truly insipid celebrity and this is why a twenty-two-year-old piece of animated pop culture remains so relevant to it. Modern influencers are defined by moronic attention seeking but many of the tropes on show are straight from the 1990s sketch show playbooks. Executed well, snapping back to comedy styles of old is great but in 2026, some humor hides in plain sight, particularly when reality reminds us that William Shatner also took this trip to space. And took it seriously.
Reviewer: Al Carretta
Reviewed: 24th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating: