Review by Paul Towers, 29/9/25
The Unfriend by Steven Moffat
Directed by Jane Towers (no relation)
Produced by Leicester Drama Society
At The Little Theatre til Saturday 4th October
2025
Unfriend /ʌnˈfrɛnd/
verb: unfriend;
1. remove (someone) from a list of friends or contacts on
a social media application.
This sitcom/thriller has opened at The Little
Theatre for a week. Let it be a lesson to all about the dangers of giving out
your contact details to all and sundry when on holiday.
Suburban couple Peter (Jordan Handford) and
Debbie (Emma Bamford) are on a short cruise and have palled up with American
tourist Elsa (Rachael Barker). Unwisely they give bolshy Elsa their email
address. Typical Brits abroad they are full of good intentions about keeping in
touch but assume that that is just holiday talk.
Some weeks later, having been bombarded with
emails from across the pond, they are pressured into offering to put up Elsa
for a week. But having done their own online research it turns out that Elsa is
actually a serial killer with six bodies to her name. Understandably Peter and
Debbie are concerned about letting a murderer into their home and around their truculent
teenagers, Alex (Thom Jones) and Rosie (Amelie Wilson-Knight). Their dithering
about cancelling the upcoming visit is to no avail when Elsa turns up
unannounced on their doorstep.
In true sitcom
style the parents are too British to kick Elsa out. The laughs start right from
the outset and don’t let up. The twists and turns of the plot keep you
guessing. Is she really as bad as they think or is Elsa misunderstood? Like
Mary Poppins she seems to at least have a magical touch with the teenagers. So
maybe she isn’t the monster she seems.
Add into this
Terry-and-June family the irritating next door neighbour, annoyingly played to
perfection by David Lovell. Also, inexplicably turning up in the garden and
befriended by Elsa is dopey policeman PC Junkin (Allan Smith) just in time for
an hilarious, tasteless, scatological episode.
The Unfriend runs
at The Little Theatre until Saturday 4th October.
Pics: Jonathan Pryke
https://ptheatre.blogspot.com/
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