Flock by Lin Coghlan, The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 | until 3 October 2026. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell
Photo credit: Lucy Hayes
Flock
by Lin Coghlan
The Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 | until 3 October 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell
“Powerful, disturbing social drama.”
Robbie is a seventeen-year-old who has been in the care system pretty well all his life as has, although with different carers, has his older sister Cel and he desperately wants them to be together. He also has a friend Miko, who is a happy go lucky soul who takes life as it comes. The play has been on tour and now returns with a new cast to Lewisham in which it is set and where it was created originally. Directed by Jim Pope the production is lucky in its new cast and skilful use is made of a collection of moveable screens to keep the action flowing, although projecting the script on the back wall gets slightly annoying as one finds oneself reading it and checking just how accurately the actors are in their delivery. Admittedly these days voice projection is not always something actors everywhere specialise in but the Jack has perfect acoustics and is an intimate space. Playing On, the company staging it, has a mission and on the evidence of this play it is certainly fulfilling that – there are other events taking place in Lewisham associated with it and the aid is to launch a new Lewisham-centric immersive audience experience. In a way the run is really too short – the Jack's audience should surely have supported one a little longer and thus spread the word which is what it is like to be in care. Lewisham has some 461 children without a family home. Robbie is difficult, erratic, easily angered and desperate to be with his sister, who has died, throwing him completely off balance, the police are banging on the door, and he is suspicious of what Mrs Bosely, the stressed and overworked care worker, played by Alice Selwyn is doing for him. Playing On was set up to harness the power of the theatre to be a platform for the voices or marginalised communities but Flock is really more than that – it is in its own right as a play, as a piece of theatre, one audiences should flock to given more chances.
Cast
Joseph Clarke – Robbie
Tabitha Detroit – Cel
Romeo Mika – Miko
Alice Selwyn – Mrs Bosely
Creatives
Director – Jim Pope
Set & Costumes Designer – Sophie Jump
Lighting Designer – Alex Wardle
Sound Designer – Jules Maxwell
