Calling all StageSiders, welcome back to another review here at StageSideUK. This time around, we are talking about a production of Clarkston at London’s Trafalgar Theatre seen on Saturday 25th October, 2025!
Yes, it has taken me a while to get round to posting. Busy busy times at the moment. That said, it’s the final week of Clarkston so I needed to get it out, and hopefully some of you can get the last few tickets and see this wonderful show.
About Clarkston Play
Jake is travelling west, following the path of explorers Lewis and Clark. Troubled with his worsening Huntington’s disease, he stops in a rural American town finding himself working the nightshift at Costco. Here he meets Chris, an unlikely friend yet kindred soul. Together they battle against life and heartache as their bond grows.
Samuel D. Hunter’s (The Whale) bleak 2015 play here features Heartstopper and Marvel star Joe Locke, 2025 BAFTA Scotland Award nominee Ruaridh Mollica (and soon to be Marvel star alongside Joe) as a duo to be reckoned with. Making up the three-hander, Sophie Melville steps in as Trisha, Chris’ problematic mother.
Clarkston Review
The Cast
What a powerhouse the three cast are together. The play may be bleak on the whole but somehow it is uplifting and hopeful, whilst still bringing a tear to my eye.
Seeing this show on my own, I opted for a stage seat (being the cheapest at the time of booking), something I have never seen available on a large-scale London theatre production (there may have been some but being a Northerner, I don’t get down often). I was sceptical at first, worried the show would be directed towards the larger main house audience, but I ended up having the best experience, one I don’t think I would have had elsewhere in the auditorium. Granted there were a few moments where my vision was disrupted by a member of the cast but it only added to the realness of the show.
Both Joe Locke and Ruaridh Mollica were excellent. Their on-stage chemistry as co-workers, friends, more-than-friends, was a character in itself, leaving you wanting to push them together and pull them a part, knowing that being together could eventually break both their hearts. I was left wanting to give them both huge hugs, and just sit in silence while they wallow. It’s quite the heart breaking play and being in such close proximity, sat on the stage, there was a whole other level to the emotions felt.
Sophie Melville, I’m sorry, I felt the opposite. I wanted to yell at her character, tell her to get lost, do better and leave the poor kid alone. Just to clarify, this was all down to Sophie’s excellent acting as the flighty, erratic mother. She did a brilliant job of balancing the motherly tenderness during the sober scenes against the harsher drug imposed moments leaving me stuck between cringe and pained for each of the characters.
The Crew
The set was a simplistic Costco warehouse, from the shelving to the boxes of crisps. I was definitely sat there trying to toss up what is easier to have an empty box of crisps for the look or simply buy a box because I’m sure they wouldn’t go out of date. The Strawberry Twizzlers were making me hungry too.
The staging, designed by Milla Clarke, was very effective. As a designer myself, I was very impressed by the flooring – it looked exactly how I would imagine yet made to be practical for the stage and audience. Someone spilt their drink before the show (having not yet got a plastic cup with lid) and I immediately expected it to damage the floor and leave a stain, but no, it all cleaned up as if nothing had happened. Probably a weird thing to point out but it made me happy. The staging as a whole blended in with the actual theatre itself so well, it was difficult to tell what was placed and what was real.
Lighting and sound (Stacey Derosier and George Dennis) worked great to add to the overall aesthetics of the piece, blending in seamlessly. For a play with clear scene changes, the lighting design showed how you don’t need to do a blackout and instead a change in state and/or colour adds to the overall production. There were some lovely moments of colour when outside of the warehouse, giving the effect of standing beneath a lonely lamppost. The ending blue could seem a bit on-the-nose but I think it worked well, a calming and hopeful moment. Witnessing from the stage too, seeing the rest of the audience basked in this blue was a lovely effect, you may not see anywhere else. On a small note, the most striking thing I noticed on stage as I walked in was how low the main lighting rig was. It was part of the set itself, only adding to the linear warehouse structures.
Overall Star Rating
I think I would give this a 4.5 if I could. An excellent production yet there was something that didn’t quite tip it over to a 5. I’d love to see the difference it would make if this was a studio production. However, I would go see it again, I will recommend it to anyone, and would definitely recommend getting a stage seat, so for the sake of the stars, I’m going to round it up to a full 5 stars.
Jack Serio, and assistant Natalie Simone, have directed a beautiful production with the perfect cast (big thanks to casting director Stuart Burt CDG). Shoutout to Dramaturg John Baker too.
A production that truly shows how powerful a three-person cast can be, even on a large stage, when backed by a slick team.
Round of applause to everyone involved!
Accessibility
This production does feature bright lights but nothing too noticably out of the ordinary. However, being sat on the stage is a very different experience to elsewhere in the auditorium and I did notice some lighting facing those audience members. Please do check with the theatre and company before going if there is anything of concern. Topics wise, the play touches on homophobia, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as descriptions of Jake’s Huntington’s disease.
Value for money
Tickets for the show start at £23 and can go up to £128 each. I don’t think tickets for a theatre show should ever cost more than £100 althought this appears to be the norm in London. The cheaper tickets are ones in the dress circle which I expect still give a good view of the stage. I believe I paid around £30 for my ticket on stage. Keep an eye out for offers on the last week of showing though, I’ve already seen ads for £20 tickets!
Tickets can be bought in all the usual London tickets seller sites or via the ClarkstonPlay.co.uk site itself.
Have your say!
Have you seen Clarkston? Let me know in the comments and let’s get a discussion going.
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Featured images have been referenced and are used in line with fair usage, in the copyright act. All photos taken by Marc Brenner.
Jonathan Harper