Review: 16 Postcodes, King’s Head Theatre

It may seem like a lot, but when you add up your own postcodes for places you’ve lived you may not be far off the 16 that make up Jessica Regan’s one woman show about surviving and thriving in London. Regan, who writes and performs here, uses these postcodes as the foundation for stories from distinct stages of her life. In an inventive twist she leaves the selection of which of these to present on the night up to the audience; no two performances are likely to be the same.

There is a pattern at play however; every night starts with Acton (W3) to set the scene of Regan’s arrival, her first home in London, and every night ends with Walthamstow (E17) for reasons made clear by the end and a certain musical connection. Both are hardcoded to give what could be an otherwise unstructured show a definite beginning and end.

Where things become a bit more mixed is in the middle. Throughout the night Regan is a strong actor, shifting from main character mode to the many colourful personalities making up her London with ease and skill – from a Camden mushroom dealer to her own sister during a brief supernatural encounter, there’s great physical and vocal shifting on display. The classical drama training Regan mentions at several points is clear, and you’re sure to come away wanting to see her perform again soon.

Narratively though, the nature of the show leaves it feeling quite uneven. On the night, the audience clamoured for Brixton (SW2), Mile End (E14) and Greenwich (SE10), which featured, respectively, a botched kidnapping, a brief haunting and tense anticipation post a career-making audition. It’s quite a mix and shows just how much of a life Regan’s experienced and how London can simultaneously both live up/fail to live up to its residents’ great expectations. What these stories don’t do however is come together with much cohesion – they’re perfectly interesting pieces performed well, but they don’t build to something more.

An attempt is made by the time we start to wrap up in Walthamstow, and there’s a great climactic speech by Regan where she sums up her time in London and can’t decide if it’s lifted her up or lied to her all along. It feels like everything’s about to come together, only to instead end on a brief routine involving a mischievous technician (delivered with star power by Ann O’Riordan) in the operating booth playing increasingly unfitting ending music.

It’s a funny routine, but feels completely out of the blue and is almost the show in a nutshell; fun ideas in isolation, but collectively in need of stronger narrative or thematic through lines to make the whole thing feel like a journey, rather than a mildly entertaining passage of time.

You can read more about this show in our recent interview with Jessica Regan here.

Written, Directed and Performed by Jessica Regan
Produced by Tom Salinsky for The Spontaneity Shop
Movement Direction by Ira Mandela Siobhan
Composed by Claire Regan

16 Postcodes plays at King’s Head Theatre until Sunday 8 March.