Alexandra Shaw has written a puzzling play. We meet two young couples Francis and Jonah and Sadie and Rich at a reserved table in a restaurant. Although they are apparently good friends there seems to be a degree of apprehension in this meeting. We then follow the four of them through short encounters, in various combinations, waiting for a bus, having coffee, in the pub and at home. They are facing the sort of challenges which most young people do; meeting career aspirations, developing long term relationships and some uncertainty about the fidelity of their partners. But the play never goes anywhere, and nothing really happens. Francis and Jonah are attending remote counselling sessions, but it was difficult to see that these made any material difference to either of them. There are no dramatic revelations and at the end of the play the two couples seem to be in very much the same place that they were at the beginning.
Shaw obviously has a talent for writing dialogue which is naturalistic and it was very effectively delivered by the four cast members whose characters were extremely believable. There were some problems with audibility, however. It seemed that, possibly, in an attempt to make the dialogue realistic, the actors were speaking faster and, in some cases, quieter than they needed to.
The setting was basically a bare stage with the use of furniture and props as required for the numerous scenes moved into place by the actors and stage crew. Some of the props were quite elaborate e.g. real food and drink. The cast also had to manage frequent rapid costume changes many of which were undertaken in view of the audience. The problem with this was that given the large number of short scenes the transitions were very frequent and, although they were handled smoothly, there were so many of them that they became rather distracting and tedious.
This piece would, I think, be better as a film or radio play where the scene changes are easier to manage. If it is to be done as a theatre piece then I think the director, Alasdair Linn, would have been better advised to abandon some of the attempts at realism and to use theatre blocks and fewer realistic props in order to make the action more continuous.
Where Would you like to Start is playing at the Drayton Arms Theatre until the 7th November. Tickets are available from www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk
Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd
Reviewed: 3rd November 2026
North West End UK Rating: