Based on the writer’s own experiences, Night City is an epic new drama about the hilarious highs and devastating lows of London’s gig economy.
It follows a hedonistic taxi driver, a waitress with big dreams, and a carer with a big heart who makes a fatal error one night, plunging all their lives into chaos. And a political conspiracy that they will never forget.
Night City is an epic tale of love, loss and laughter and how we might stand more united against corruption and a strange future.
Review by Richard Lambert.
The set is striking from the outset, made up of around 20 metal chains hanging from floor to ceiling, with bright white LED tape plaited through them. Together, they create a labyrinthine maze which the cast must navigate throughout the performance. It is an intriguing and highly distinctive visual concept, and one that becomes an integral part of the staging.
The lighting is consistently dark, moody and shadowy, never fully illuminating the performers. Instead, we are often left seeing the actors through the darkness, with their figures emerging and disappearing within the maze of chains. Video is also projected across the space, at times falling across the actors and the chains before eventually reaching the far black wall upstage. The combination of these elements creates a highly atmospheric visual world.
Technically, this is an impressive piece of work. There are many, many technical cues throughout, with lighting, sound and video having to combine and synchronise with considerable precision. The timing and execution of these cues is impressive, and a shoutout must go to the stage manager, Venus Raven, for keeping such a complex technical performance running so brilliantly.
The direction keeps everything moving at a fast pace, with intertwined staging and movement creating a constant sense of momentum. There is very little opportunity for the action to settle, as the performers move through the space and between the various elements of the production. Every few minutes they change costume pieces and characters but with all the costume pieces being black and only 3 actors it’s still a little disorientating to know who’s who.
The book itself darts around between many different stories and characters, and while this can make the narrative challenging to follow, what is absolutely clear is the skill and talent of this cast. They are superb. The quality of the acting is consistently high, with the performers tackling the rapid changes and demands of the production with great skill.
A special shoutout, however, has to go to Helena Pipe for her singing. Wow! She has a fantastic voice, and I really want to see Helena in a musical. Her vocal performance is one of those moments that makes you sit up and take notice, and it would be wonderful to see what she could do with a full musical theatre role.
Unfortunately, although the individual elements of the show are outstanding, after about ten minutes I found myself wishing someone would simply pull down the chains, turn on the lights and make everyone fully visible and the story easier to follow. The combination of the hanging chains, the darkness, the haze and the constantly shifting images creates a very particular visual experience, but for me it ultimately became more of a barrier than an aid to the storytelling.
What followed was a further 80 minutes of peering through the haze at shadowy performers, which became more challenging than I would have hoped. I could appreciate the considerable skill involved in creating the production and the ambition behind its visual and technical design, but I found the end result difficult to engage with.
That said, the audience clearly loved this piece, and there is no denying the extraordinary level of skill on display. If you enjoy highly skilled performance, intricate technical work and ambitious, atmospheric staging, this is certainly a show for you.
Production photos: Lydia Crisafulli
Cast
Jack Ambrose — Jack
Helena Pipe — Tamara
Bex Smith — Tia
Creatives
Max Wilkinson — Writer
Ebenezer Bamgboye — Director
Olivia Jamieson — Set and Costume Designer
Arnim Friess — Lighting and Video Designer
David Lewington — Sound Designer
Rose Ryan — Movement Director
Fran Cattaneo — Casting Director
Emma Langan — Production Manager
Venus Raven — Stage Manager
Clarisse Makundul — Producer
Clarisse Makundul Productions presents
Night City
By Max Wilkinson
10 Sep – 3 Oct 2026
Ticket Prices (no booking fee to pay!):
Standard from £22 | Concessions from £18 | Previews £16 | Pioneers’ Preview (09 Sep) £10
Tickets: click here