A Yearful of London Week 3: This Will End Badly at the Southwark Playhouse

“This was perhaps the best show I’ve seen this year… I urge you to see it.” Observer ★★★★★

“Ben Whybrow is heartrending, callous and funny by turns. It’s as unsettling and brilliant a performance as you’re likely to see this year.” Fest Magazine ★★★★

“An intense, exhausting performance complements this diagnosis of emotional obsession in the modern male” The Stage ★★★★

I love the Southwark Playhouse. So when I saw such a highly reviewed play as This Will End Badly showing, I booked tickets for my weekly activity.

"I didn't really enjoy it and gutted that there was toilet humour that I didn't find very funny." Vanessa ★★

We arrived early for some pre-theatre nachos only to receive the devistating blow that they had run out. Did the hummus and cucumber serve as an adequate replacement for the chilli-cheese mouth-party? Did it heck...

We took to our seats and the action begun. As a lover of toilet gags, I was excited to see a real-life loo onstage. With black humour promised, hopes were high.

The action begun. The sole actor (Ben Whybrow, very good, don't know how he kept going without a glass of water for an hour and ten minutes without stopping) switched between a number of personalities in a bleak tale.

Constipation was a big theme. He was often heartbroken. And very clearly in a downwards spiral of depression.

The blurb had described a strong message about depression in young men. Perhaps I missed it but the only message I received loud and clear was that during depression one suffers from mood swings.

And the constipation was a bit repetitive and never made me laugh. This WIll End Badly is running until the 6th February if you want to try it out for yourself.

The Southwark Playhouse is a great theatre - the seating is fun and informal. The bar is nice and quirky. And the plays are reasonably cheap for London with preview tickets available for around £10. One of the best plays that I saw last year was Scarlet at the Southwark Playhouse - we went because it had Elizabeth from Poldark in it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Yearful of London is my new year's resolution. Every week I'm going to do something-you-can-only-do-in London to help me embrace this beautiful city. For suggestions of places to visit, give me a shout - secretlondonruns@gmail.com.

#ThisWillEndBadly #SouthwarkPlayhouse #AYearfulofLondon