A Slow Fire by Simon Stephens, Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1 | until 26 September 2026 ⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

Photo credit: Alex Brenner

A Slow Fire

by Simon Stephens

Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, London SW1 | until  26 September 2026

⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

“A world in flames in slow burning play.”

Four good performances make this predictable and not all that well constructed Apocalypse Aftermath play directed by Rex Ryan in which everyone seems to be headed for hell in a handcart worth seeing. One has worked out what the great reveal will be long before it happens but given the skill of the cast – Ross Gaynor and Ian Toner as the odd couple Ashton and Reece making the best they can of life together in a bunker they had constructed  to live in after the world had gone up in flames, and Fionn O Loingsigh as Presley, the man with a gun who intrudes into their existence – the play for all its flaws works well enough and provides plenty to talk about afterwards in a year in which the world has been on fire and with worse to come. Ashton and Reece do one of those Samuel Beckett type double acts as they lead an existence in which they go nowhere and recall the past until into the bunker comes Mary, played by Holy Demaine who gets the longest speech of all – and the best one. She tells Ashton just what happened, is happening and how it ended with the arrival of Presley, and yes, you get an Elvis joke. After that she barks like a dog, eats a fly and is never seen again. Presley then turns up and is indeed bad news. He has that gun, real food – what that is comes as no surprise – a generator, which allows the couple's record player to work, and plans for their future and his own which bode ill for both Ashton and Reece. A Slow Fire is puzzling to start with but once one grasps what this odd couple are up to and the intruders add a sense of danger then an evening which was starting to become yet another rather annoying, slow burning addition to that long of after the apocalypse dramas starts to take wing, But before this Dublin based Glass Mask Theatre production opens in New York some more work needs to be done.

Cast

Ross Gaynor – Ashton

Fionn O Loingsigh – Presley

Ian Toner – Reece

Holly Demaine – Mary

Creatives

Director – Rex Ryan

Set Designer – Andrew Clancy

Costume Designer – Migle Ryan

Lighting Designer – Jess Fitzsimons Kane