Review: The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return,  Half Moon Theatre

Entering the theatre, you can feel the charge in the air – an urban brick wall location, a haze of fog, the low thrum of bass, and an auditorium packed with buzzing Year 10s who’ve arrived ready to feel something. Chalk Line’s production of The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return rises to meet them with confidence. Co-directed by Sam Edmunds and Vikesh Godhwani, it unfolds as a bold, breathless and deeply human ensemble piece, powered by exceptional multi-role work from a tireless cast: Elan Butler as Lewis, Nathaniel Christian as the magnetic Voice and Leanne Henlon as Lakesha. Christian’s narration in particular becomes the spine of the piece, knitting together shifting timeframes and fractured memories with lyrical precision.

From the outset, the production brims with strong physicality. Movement Director Jess Tucker Boyd infuses it with sharp footwork, sudden eruptions of gesture and an exhilarating pulse that mirrors the chaos of a Saturday night on the edge of adulthood. There’s a gorgeously observed truth to the boys who spend far more time talking about girls than actually talking to them, and the audience revelled in the awkwardness – especially the painful, funny and beautifully pitched encounter between Lewis and Lakesha. Matteo Depares’ pulsating sound design gives the whole piece a heartbeat. A gaming-style underscore creates tension, while the physical sequences provide a window into their internal states: jittery bravado, fear, longing, displacement…. And the party sequence – cleverly framed by Rob Miles’s set – is a theatrical gem, holding more than sixty young people in complete focus.

The ensemble’s ability to flip between characters – a swaggering mate, a weary parent, a cornershop owner whose day ends in violence – gives the piece a shape-shifting quality that feels entirely rooted in the Luton streets where the play is set. Moments are reported, relived, and reframed, as if the boys are narrating their own myth-making. 

The creeping sense of danger arrives almost imperceptibly: a sexual assault, a retaliatory punch, a knife pulled too quickly, and the brutal fallout. The descriptive monologue of trying to keep a friend alive is almost unbearable, delivered with rawness that held the auditorium in absolute silence. And yet the production swerves away from the familiar tragic ending. Instead, it offers a more complex hope: remorse, accountability, forgiveness: the possibility of rewriting endings. It’s all the more powerful knowing Edmunds drew on lived stories from vulnerable young people in Luton and consulted with Beds Veru, the local knife-crime intervention team.

The writing glows with detail. Lines such as “He’s got the remarkable ability to make you feel small even though he’s only 5’9”” or “Adults who carry the weight of the town’s anger on their shoulders” paint a landscape shaped by limited opportunity but rich in resilience. A throwaway mention of BlackBerrys and Motorolas suddenly tilts us into the 1990s or early 2000s, a reminder that these cycles of harm and hope persist across decades.

There is some, indeed a lot, of swearing that could be cut: the writing is strong enough without relying on it. It distracts. It undermines the characters’ articulation. There could perhaps be some editing too, here and there – but these are small criticisms. 

What emerges is a play filled with affection for Luton while refusing to romanticise it: violence, joy, cultural fusion, and fragile futures collide in one chaotic night. And from that mess, a young man walks into a university interview room, trying – tentatively, bravely – to imagine a future for himself. It feels earned.

This is an urgent piece of ensemble theatre that continues Half Moon’s long tradition of presenting high-quality, unapologetic in-house and visiting companies’ work that speaks to teenagers with authenticity and theatrical flair. 

Written by Sam Edmunds
Co-Directed by Sam Edmunds & Vikesh Godhwani
Set Design by Rob Miles
Sound Design by Matteo Depares
Lighting Design by Sam Edmunds
Movement Direction by Jess Tucker Boyd
Technical Stage Management by Eliott Sheppard

The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return has finished its run at Half Moon, and continues its tour across the UK until Thursday 27 November..