Reasonable Crash Out
28 September 2025
The Glitch
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
The newest production by L Cube, Reasonable Crash Out, had a showcase at The Glitch as part of the Lambeth Fringe last Sunday. The ambitious production is an interesting piece exploring queer love, loneliness, self-esteem, and grief through an Asian lense. It contains themes of eating disorders and mental health struggles.
Ling is utterly in love with her friend Mandy, but when she confesses her feelings, she is rejected. Already struggling with body image issues, Ling is thrown into a spiral of self-hatred, blaming the rejection on her “fat” body, and throwing herself into a strict regime of training and food restriction to fix what she perceives as her greatest flaw. Along the way she is supported by her best friend Vee who is fiercely loyal and full of great advice that often goes unheeded. There is also the character of Dee, Ling’s desire personified, who challenges with temptations and stumbling blocks.
The story as a whole is a fantastic basis for a deeply touching and challenging play, drawing on Asian culture and queer culture as its strongest building blocks. With a little deeper development and a more focused examination of Ling’s emotional world, Reasonable Crash Out could become a solid and poignant play, pushing back against body-shaming and mental health stigmatisation.
Within the narrative lies a wealth of emotional moments that are at times not fully explored and feel a little rushed, perhaps owing to its short 60 minute run-time typical for fringe productions. The story could definitely be examined further and in more depth, it definitely deserves a deeper look at the struggles so many woman have faced before, wrapped up in a narrative of unprocessed grief and a yearning to be seen as good enough, as worthy.
The comedy aspect needs a little work, at its current iteration, the darkness definitely dominates over the lighter, funnier moments. A little injection of more humour could lighten things for a more balanced play, on the other hand, a focus on the serious side of the subject without the humour might yield a devastatingly touching show. Either way, Reasonable Crash Out is a promising production that is worth keeping an eye on.
