A fun night, whether you’re interested in the mechanics of theatre or simply enjoy watching well-made, emotionally charged stories.Rating
Good
Pressure brings together emerging theatre makers who are split into four teams, given the same theme, budget, and rehearsal time, and tasked with creating a half-hour play performed over three nights. Audiences vote each night, and a winner is announced at the end. The theme is “time is running out,” producing four pieces: Forwards or Backwards, Cookie Dough, Sad Face, and A Big Tip.
The format is great fun. The competitive structure and tight constraints add energy, and seeing several plays born from the same prompt creates a strong conceptual hook. Ironically, it takes the pressure off any one piece needing to be perfect; the night becomes an exploration of how stories form—how quickly they take shape and what they need to land.
Forwards or Backwards centres on an injection that reverses ageing—a decision everyone must make at 40. Joric (Cameron Krough-Stone), a university lecturer approaching the deadline, debates whether to take it. Although there’s a central relationship between Joric and his much younger partner Lirae (Madeline Price), the play unfolds largely through monologues about what ageing means and the hypothetical consequences of reversing it: would a brain tumour return at 32 if you de-age? What happens to couples when only one person takes the injection? It plays more as an intellectual exercise than a drama. Rooted in speculative ideas rather than human conflict, the concept is hard to fully realise in a short play.
I can’t help noting that from here the plays become increasingly sexual. It’s funny that, under tight creative constraints, so many pieces gravitate toward sexual relationships—you wouldn’t be crazy to assume it’s an unspoken requirement.
Cookie Dough, the second play, is far more successful at building an engaging world quickly. It follows two co-workers—Bernie (Abby McCann) and Polly (Grace Hudson)—meeting just before Bernie leaves for Glasgow to pursue her dream of starting a food truck. Polly rushes in, drenched and nervous, instantly getting laughs. The subtext is particularly well done: you can feel the world beyond the half-hour, the shared history between the two women. It feels like we’re watching the juicy end of a much longer story, yet still left wondering what might happen next.
Sad Face, centred on a couple—Jonnie (Arthur Campbell) and Katie (Giorgia Laird)—whose night is disrupted by their friend Archie (Harrison Sharpe). It’s Katie’s first relationship, and she wants it to feel special; they sleep together, but Jonnie has already emotionally checked out and plans to move home and move on. The play doesn’t open with quite the same clarity or personality as Cookie Dough, but once the central betrayal lands, the situation is instantly recognisable, prompting equal parts laughter and outrage at Jonnie. It’s the piece with the clearest moral culprit, using a personal relationship to explore a wider ethical dilemma.
A Big Tip packs a surprising number of twists into its half hour. Geordie (Will Lockey), still closeted, visits a male escort, Oscar (Jack Donoghue), for his first sexual experience with a man. Too nervous to proceed, he ends up talking instead, revealing that both his stepfather and stepbrother are also gay. Just as he finally feels ready, Oscar admits he’s actually straight, leaving Geordie mildly betrayed. In the end, Geordie asks only for a hug, and they kiss. Despite Oscar’s lack of attraction, the moment feels honest, marking a small but meaningful step in Geordie’s self-acceptance. It’s perhaps the night’s most cohesive piece, a short life-altering interaction with a stranger.
I can’t call the winner, but I’m curious which play comes out on top. What strikes me is how differently each team positions its story within a broader narrative timeline. Cookie Dough feels like an episode in a longer series; A Big Tip like a self-contained short story; Forwards or Backwards like the opening of a dystopian novel; and Sad Face like the final, bitter moment of a failing relationship. Each group interprets the theme in its own way – from speculative to moral to deeply interpersonal – giving every piece something distinct. It’s a fun night, whether you’re interested in the mechanics of theatre, or simply enjoy watching well-made, emotionally charged stories.
Written by: Kyle Eaton, Andy Sellers, Catriona Stirling, Oliver Woolf
Directed by: Apostolos Zografos, Saniya Saraf, Aaron Finnegan, Jessica Whiley
Produced by: Gregor Roach, Arthur Campbell
Pressure has completed its run at Playhouse East
