London Zoo @ The Bread & Roses Theatre Review

We’re living in an increasingly digitised world, news content made instantly accessible thanks to social media platforms and web spaces. Made available to read at the click of a button, mainstream news outlets having had to adapt to these new ways of interacting with their readership. Exploring this prominent feature of popular culture within their debut production London Zoo, Unequal Productions present a lively, fly on the wall observation of this ever-changing world of publishing.

Farine Clarke’s acute, dawn of the millenium office/boardroom based drama entertainingly observes the self assured, dynamic, decisive environment of the editorial room, integrity and quality vs business acumen the continual drive of the work force. Fuelled by the need to survive, and clash of opinion as to what this entails, the cast expertly highlight this – Louie Keen (Christian), Mike Duran (Charles), Natalie Lauren (Arabella), Adil Akram (Sunil), Derek Jeck (Alex) and Cal-l Jonel (Kelvin) – a memorable workforce, who despite the office politics, we genuinely care about. The interactions had are sharp and snappy, none of the scenes throw away.

Fast paced, swift conversations beautifully building up intensity established. Director Samantha Pears maintaining a comic, quick witted flare, power dynamics and the snap decisions made forever fascinating to watch and encounter. Not afraid of tackling the pertinent issue of representation – an on going discussion had in the wider world, we witness the production boldly examine this further. London Zoo distilling a point in media history, on the cusp of transitioning to digital world and this is fascinating to watch. A must see!

Review written by Lucy Basaba.

London Zoo is currently showing until Saturday 11th September at The Bread & Roses Theatre. To find out more about the production, visit here…