Renting in London is not for the squeamish. Trying to find a place to rest your head in a city so inhospitable that its train platforms are plastered with propaganda assuring international transplants that friendship and family are just around the corner if they keep hanging on, is no mean feat.
BuildingRockets, a theatrical cohort of three international artists, have created in Wakaresaseya or How to End Things a deceptively and dangerously funny stage thriller as sexy as it is sickening. Director Samuel Topper manipulates the undeveloped domain of the cramped and comfortless Courtyard Theatre into an immersive storytelling environment utilizing a potent combination of projection, light, and erotic audio to enhance the anxiety of claustrophobia common to both flat sharing and black box theatre.
In the forced proximity of this intimate venue, it is impossible to disentangle yourself from these characters’ twisted web and the more unsettling their antics the more powerful the fascination. Starring Shelton Wong as Seb, a libidinous imp interloping in the relationship between aspiring artist Mia (Moana Doll) and her chronically dissatisfied boyfriend Iago (Pablo Laguna), the intoxicating chemistry between its three leads is as impossible to look away from as it is discomforting to witness.
Brazenly sexual and subtly menacing, Wong peppers his performance as Seb with a saltiness that only deepens the watcher’s thirst and makes the play’s twists and turns all the more dizzying. Delivering his dialogue with a cloyingly arch drawl equal parts desperate and seductive, Wong is well matched by the magnificent Moana Doll whose performance as Mia evokes a brash sexuality in every gesture that makes her entirely convincing as an abstract artist.
Elegant but naturalistic in her performance and particularly enchanting when her irascibility gives way to unbridled rage, she commands the audience’s attention. Troisième in this messy ménage, Pablo Laguna’s Iago is as treacherous as he is tender and his turn to brutality as the facade of civility is stripped from this uneasy apartment ecosystem is genuinely exhilarating to witness.
Jam packed into a forty-five-minute runtime, this explosive thriller gets under the skin and leaves no one unscathed. Thought provoking and spine tingling, this play will get to you whether you like it or not.
Reviewer: Kira Daniels
Reviewed: 9th August 2025
North West End UK Rating: