King’s Head Theatre Archives

28Feb

By Stewart Who?No Comments

London

16 Postcodes – King’s Head Theatre

Like all big cities, London has always been a challenging place to live and work. Smog, sewage, soot and squalor have held the city together for centuries. However, the past 20 years has seen a dramatic escalation in factors that largely render the capital an exclusive urban enclave. London’s once cosmopolitan centre is now only affordable for a super-rich, culturally hollow, elite echelon of society. The shocking expense of being alive, blended with a housing crisis, stagnant wages and a generous slug of austerity, means that a simple day out in London becomes a Hunger Games battle for sanity and a surviving bank balance. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution has become crueller than nature, with gentrification, zero-hours contracts and inherited wealth skewing the odds. Writing review...

24Feb

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

Blink – King’s Head Theatre

Phil Porter’s Blink at King’s Head Theatre is a darkly funny and tender meditation on loneliness, voyeurism and the ways in which we connect in today's modern world. Sophie’s father has died, leaving her spiralling, falling back in on herself and showing all the signs of mental health issues. Jonah has run away from the religious commune he was raised in after finding a bag of thousands of pounds his mother left him after she died. Through a series of small coincidences, Jonah unknowingly rents the flat below Sophie. Not knowing Jonah at all, Sophie sends him a baby monitor, a screen hooked up to a camera in her flat and he starts to watch here in small doses and quickly moves to constant viewing. Despite their closeness, just a floor apart, their actual paths never cross. Jonah takes t...

19Oct

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

Fanny – King’s Head Theatre

Fanny is a hilarious and clever play that blends fact and fiction to retell the story of Fanny Mendelssohn. Set in the nineteenth century, the play explores the life of Fanny, sister to the famous composer Felix Mendelssohn. While classical music lovers may be familiar with Felix’s work, Fanny’s contributions are often overlooked, despite evidence that she co-composed several of his pieces. The play highlights how Felix discouraged her from publishing her own music, adding a bittersweet edge beneath the comedy. This production offers a brilliantly funny introduction to the Mendelssohn family and the colourful cast of characters surrounding them. The story focuses on Fanny as she’s courted by Wilhelm, played by Riad Richie. Richie’s sharp timing, quick wit, and playful energy delivered s...

6Sep

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

Invasive Species – King’s Head Theatre

Based on the true story of writer and star Maia Novi, Invasive Species opens with a life-altering realisation: Maia wants to be in the movies. But not the low-budget Spanish movies that blare out of the tinny speakers at her local cinema in her homeland of Argentina. Maia wants to be in “big, American movies” like The Amazing Spider-Man — the movie that triggers this epiphany in her youth. Before she knows it, she’s caught hook, line and sinker by The Acting Bug (brought to gloriously creepy life by Harrison Osterfield, playing one of several roles), setting her on a path of unsuccessful stints at acting schools in France and London before finally getting into Yale School of Drama. Disaster strikes weeks before her all-important final year showcase, however: after seeking treatment f...

The Pitchfork Disney – King’s Head Theatre

3Sep

By Holly SewellNo Comments

London

The Pitchfork Disney – King’s Head Theatre

“Through indiscriminate suffering men know fear / and fear is the most divine emotion.” Zora Neale Hurston’s sermon-like words, which open The Pitchfork Disney’s epigraph, paint fear as a sacramental rite in the pursuit of wisdom. Fear allows us to know truth; it is holy because it is the realest thing there is. Pitchfork’s characters live in the realm of dreams, but their words are devastating precisely because they touch the darkest knowledge each of us carries in our gut: we are afraid, and we are right to be. Philip Ridley’s debut play is often credited for sparking the ‘90s ‘in-yer-face’ British theatre movement. Its influence extends to the likes of Sarah Kane and Jez Butterworth: the blood, guts, sex and violence that is so unflinchingly depicted in Ridley’s script carries over i...

24Jul

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

Echo – King’s Head Theatre

I’d never been to the King’s Head Theatre before, which is criminal considering its proximity to where I’ve lived for the majority of my life. It prides itself, and rightly so, on being the longest running theatre pub in London, having been established in 1970 and recently moving to a new home, just around the corner. It’s a fantastic space with friendly, welcoming staff, and the perfect setting for an intimate and atmospheric production. And so does Suan Eve Haar’s Echo (previously titled Saugerties and performed as a one act titled Paper Dolls) begin, with Jen and Roge celebrating their tenth anniversary in a quirky B&B. Their exchange is heated and at times somewhat confusing – emotions are constantly at 11 out of 10 and the two swing between love and hate at an alarming rate. Th...

19Jul

By Holly SewellNo Comments

London

Four Play – King’s Head Theatre

If you’re queer and living in London in 2025, chances are you know someone in an open relationship. You might think it’s a fad; you might think it’s the only reasonable response to widespread capitalist ideas about love. Either way, it feels like monogamy is increasingly followed by a question mark in discussions around modern dating. Monogamy, non-monogamy and their common downfalls are the subject of Jake Brunger’s Four Play. A couple of seven (and a half!) years strong start to feel the itch. They believe that a one-off arrangement with their friend Michael will solve the problem: one shag each, questions answered, book closed. Michael’s relationship governs that he cannot sleep with friends, but a discussion with his partner gives him the green light. The arrangement proceeds, and t...

14Jun

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

King of Pangea – King’s Head Theatre

King of Pangea is a new musical produced by Jerry Mitchell that takes audiences on an emotional journey through the challenges of growing up, family bonds, illness, and grief. It tells a moving story about a boy named Sam Crow, who grows up in a loving household only to face the devastating impact of cancer—not once, but twice. The musical begins with Sam watching his mother battle and survive cancer. Later, as a university student, he is confronted with a similar situation—but this time, it ends in loss. The narrative powerfully explores how grief reshapes a person's world. Sam Crow is played by Alfie Blackwell, with Tayt Joshua Silvester-Stoller portraying his younger self. Both deliver compelling performances, capturing the deep emotional struggle of processing trauma at a young a...

This Is Not a Happy Room – King’s Head Theatre

2Apr

By Zain RussellNo Comments

London

This Is Not a Happy Room – King’s Head Theatre

This is not a Happy Room is a new play written by and starring Rosie Day. It explores family dynamics, the ways families drift apart, and how they reconnect when brought together for major life events—such as a wedding and a funeral. Through witty dialogue and engaging performances, the play captures the complexity of sibling relationships, unresolved tensions, and the bittersweet nostalgia of shared memories. The story revolves around a family gathering for their father’s wedding to his new girlfriend. However, as he fails to arrive on time, his children begin to question his whereabouts while also rediscovering their relationships with one another. As they navigate awkward reunions and unspoken resentments, the audience is drawn into the emotional highs and lows of their interactions....

A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First – King’s Head Theatre

7Sep

By Sadie PearsonNo Comments

London

A Letter To Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First – King’s Head Theatre

A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First is a powerful exploration of the pressures which shape a childhood, devastating loss of innocence, and the path which American foreign politics carved out for a generation of working class boys. Grasshopper (Xhloe Rice) and Ace (Natasha Roland) roll onto the stage as impossible-not-to-love Boy Scouts. Scruffy, mud covered, scamps! Spending a summer camp play-fighting imaginary enemies for the elusive praise of Lyndon B Johnson, a comically God-like father figure in their whimsical imaginations, the duo give magnetic, vulnerable and tender performances, creating characters you instantly invest in. As the story unfolds, folklore and propaganda blends with harrowing truths, and suddenly the looming pressures of manhood and w...