Radiant Vermin, which is written by Philip Ridley and directed by Brittany Rex, is having a short run at the Drayton Arms Theatre. Radiant Vermin follows Ollie and Jill, a young, expectant couple living in a run-down estate. Desperate to provide a better life for their unborn son, when they are given an opportunity for their dream home, they can’t pass it up. They quickly find themselves in a twisted renovation game, funding their dream lifestyle from the deaths of the local unhoused. Radiant Vermin, with its fourth wall breaks and meta-theatrical devices, asks what is the price of life and what are people willing to pay for their dreams?
Radiant Vermin delves into a lot of themes: class issues, Christian hypocrisy, gentrification, and most importantly how housing legislation fails not just the unhoused but the working and middle classes. It’s a lot of themes to tackle, but Ridley does it with such prowess that it never feels like too much to chew.
Though I wouldn’t label it as in-yer-face theatre as he would, it is certainly a masterclass in
magical realism on stage. A modern day Macbeth, the audience is privy to the intimate
destruction of a couple’s moral compass and the ultimate crumpling of their sanity.
Radiant Vermin is extremely well-acted, with actors who seamlessly flip between characters on a minimal set. It was clear that the actors were having fun, so the audience did, too.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
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