Brought to the Drayton Arms Theatre by the Cellar Door Theatre Company, The Ticking explores the manic cocktail of emotions, questions and chaos that arises when 4 friends wake up after a night out with a mysterious ticking briefcase in their possession. As I’m sure you can guess, the briefcase contains a bomb. The 70 minutes that follow are just as absurd as the opening premise, and not only allow for some great moments of comedy, but also a discussion of blame, responsibility and climate change. The issue is that while these themes are undeniably important, they’re also well-trodden, and The Ticking does little to explore them from a new angle. We’re presented with a situation, a political message, and characters we’ve all seen before, which consequently makes it hard to emotionally invest in the performance.
For instance, the characters are all familiar archetypes. There’s Hugo, the trust-fund private-school boy who thinks his inherited wealth grants him authority. Mike, the resident kind-hearted coward; Connor, the “working class” lad with a relaxed exterior (at least to begin with); and Jay, a musician clad in a leather jacket and a Che Guevara t-shirt with a secret to hide. Perhaps this is the point, to show that ordinary people all bear responsibility for what’s happening to the world, but even so we need something unique to hook on to. Sadly, beyond surface level hilarity and one or two emotional monologues, this much-needed depth is missing. I’m also not convinced that the responsibility of the every-day person even is the play’s message; things got a tad muddled towards the end!
Nonetheless, Jack Cavendish and Aaron Barrow bring immense energy and comedic timing to their performances as Hugo and Mike respectively, and TJ Dudley’s deadpan demeanour was frequently amusing, especially when contrasted with his later outbursts. The characters may not be original, but the actors nailed the stereotypical characterisations. Unfortunately Adam Paul Brown, who also wrote the play, was a little flat in comparison as Jay. Brown’s timing felt slightly off, perhaps because his script often uses Jay to move the play from beat to beat. It’s hard to make lines similar to, ‘So what are we going to do about this?’ sound natural, and Brown doesn’t quite pull it off. That being said, he did shine in one of the last conversations of the play, which required emotional nuance rather than comedic timing.
The other area in which The Ticking lacks originality is its final twist (spoilers ahead). With the introduction of Lucy, AKA the Devil, it’s revealed that Hugo, Mike, Connor and Jay are dead. They drowned in a tsunami that came about as a result of the human race’s inability to work together to solve climate change. The flat with the ticking bomb is Hell, a situation they’re doomed to repeat until three of the friends collectively decide to blame a fourth for their predicament. Again, while the show’s themes of blame, responsibility and the threat of climate change are all important, this isn’t a new way of discussing them. A mysterious location populated by people who don’t know how they got there turning out to be some fantastical/theological realm designed to teach those people a moral lesson is a tried and tested formula. I’ve seen it in three other plays in the last year alone! And so, when the twists came, I wasn’t taken by surprise. When the audience can consistently guess what’s coming before the characters can, it’s hard for them to remain invested. And that was certainly an issue with The Ticking.
I also would have liked to have seen more done with the lighting and sound design. The lighting, designed by Brittany Rex (who also produced), was flat and uninspired. If I’m being generous, this could be intended to hint at the flat’s true nature; it’s dull to look at simply because it’s Hell. But when Lucy’s true nature was revealed, I would have enjoyed the incorporation of more imaginative lighting and sound effects in order to demonstrate her power and control over Hugo, Mike, Connor and Jay.
The Ticking has some hilarious jokes, some heartfelt moments, and an abundance of energy. It was a perfectly enjoyable watch. But sadly, it doesn’t offer its audience anything new.
Reviewer: Ben Pearson
Reviewed: 9th June 2025
North West End Rating: