London

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-lowdown">THE LOWDOWN</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-6-1024x683.jpg" alt="Playfight Soho Theatre Sophie Cox" class="wp-image-10479" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-6-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-6-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-6.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sophie Cox as Keira</figcaption></figure>



If you’ve overheard Playfight mentioned in an independent coffee-shop-come-wine-bar in Hackney, that sounds about right – it has caused a bit of a stir in arty circles over the past year. Launched back in 2020, it won the Experienced Theatre Practitioners Early Playwriting Award (catchy title&#8230;) before it had even premiered. Then it picked up five-star review from The Times and the Guardian when it showed at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, where it also won the Summerhall Lustrum Award.



Critical acclaim secured, Playfight set off on a three-city tour – Bristol, Coventry, and now London&#8217;s Soho Theatre.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-so-who-s-behind-this-hit">SO WHO&#8217;S BEHIND THIS HIT?</h2>



It’d be fair to say that writer Julia Grogan is hot stuff. In 2023, she cowrote, produced and starred in GUNTER, which won a Fringe First Award and landed Grogan on The Stage’s list of five break-out theatre makers. She also cowrote BELLY UP, which is currently being developed by the RSC, and she’s in the writing room for a new major Amazon series (how very mysterious).



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-9-1024x683.jpg" alt="Playfight Soho Theatre lucy mangan nina cassells" class="wp-image-10477" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-9-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-9-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-9-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-9.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nina Cassells (left) as Zainab, Lucy Mangan (right) as Lucy</figcaption></figure>



And whilst it’s a small and by no means celebby cast, you may recognise Lucy Mangan from stage and screen (Harry Potter &amp; The Cursed Child; The Great, Doctors).



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-it-about">WHAT&#8217;S IT ABOUT? </h2>



Strap in and hang onto your house white – you’re about to be transported back to your teens. And as you might imagine, it&#8217;s not all sunshine and buttercups.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-23-Sophie-Cox-1024x683.jpg" alt="Playfight Soho Theatre sophie cox squirrel" class="wp-image-10476" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-23-Sophie-Cox-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-23-Sophie-Cox-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-23-Sophie-Cox-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-23-Sophie-Cox.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



And yes, while there&#8217;s no shortage of coming-of-age pieces, Playfight has been lauded more than anything for the realness of its depiction of the female experience of growing up. The characters are lost and flawed, trying to figure out who they are amid the fierce pressures faced by young women. Keira (expertly portrayed by Sophie Cox) is a misguided northerner who loses her virginity outside a nightclub at 15. Zainab (Nina Cassells) is ambitious and headstrong but wrestles with her sexuality. Lucy (Lucy Mangan) struggles to understand adult life against the backdrop of her Christian upbringing.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-5-Lucy-Mangan-1024x683.jpg" alt="Playfight Soho Theatre Lucy Mangan" class="wp-image-10475" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-5-Lucy-Mangan-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-5-Lucy-Mangan-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-5-Lucy-Mangan-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-PRVIEWS-5-Lucy-Mangan.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Opening GCSE results, stealing sour old wine from the church and exchanging hyperbolic stories of sexual experiences &#8211; you&#8217;ll relive experiences which you&#8217;re pleased to be beyond, but it somehow still smarts that they&#8217;re gone forever. You&#8217;ll laugh throughout (certainly sometimes to assuage the cringe), you&#8217;ll squirm in your seat (the script doesn&#8217;t pull any punches), and you&#8217;ll feel a shiver through your whole body as the darkest twists land with a crash.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan.jpg" alt="Playfight Soho Theatre ladder Lucy mangan sophie cox" class="wp-image-10480" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/PLAYFIGHT_BOV_MARCH-2025_PB-89-L-R-Sophie-Cox-Lucy-Mangan-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



The sparse set (all set around a &#8216;tree&#8217;, depicted on the stage by a neon pink ladder) and small cast only serve to bring the audience closer to the characters and allow the fabulous writing to sing. Any moments where it risks veering into GCSE drama territory are swiftly averted. Phew.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-out-and-about">OUT AND ABOUT</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="684" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/aleks-marinkovic-lvN1C09O3zg-unsplash-1024x684.jpg" alt="Bar Italia Soho" class="wp-image-10484" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/aleks-marinkovic-lvN1C09O3zg-unsplash-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/aleks-marinkovic-lvN1C09O3zg-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/aleks-marinkovic-lvN1C09O3zg-unsplash-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/aleks-marinkovic-lvN1C09O3zg-unsplash.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



You&#8217;re in Soho, for Christ&#8217;s sake! No one will need much help on this front I&#8217;m sure, but our favourite spots are <a href="https://www.cafeboheme.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cafe Bohème</a> for a posh glass of wine in moody Parisian salon surrounds, <a href="https://www.brasseriezedel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Brasserie Zédel</a> for a pre-show meal (or the Bar Américain there for an old fashioned afterwards), and the ultra-cool, ultra-cosy <a href="https://www.ritasdining.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rita&#8217;s</a>. Or there&#8217;s always <a href="http://baritaliasoho.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bar Italia</a> (above) for a performative 10pm espresso. Plus, since the play is a tight 70-minuter, you&#8217;ll make great time to catch the 9:30pm main show at Ronnie Scott&#8217;s round the corner. Just saying.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe.jpg" alt="Brasserie Zedel Cafe" class="wp-image-10482" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/london/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2025/04/brasseriezedelcafe-500x500.jpg 500w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Instagram @brasseriezedel</figcaption></figure>



But with Tottenham Court Road, Covent Garden, Leicester Square and the West End all within crawling distance, you may as well close your eyes, spin around and set off any which way.



Playfight is on at the Soho Theatre until Sat 26 Apr. Book tickets <a href="https://sohotheatre.com/events/playfight/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>.



Words: Joe Wald

Review: Playfight, Soho Theatre

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