Curating
10 November 2025
Old Red Lion Theatre
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Curating just finished its short run at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Angel, presenting 28and2Production’s dark comedy of eternal afterlife admin nightmares.
In a small office with just three chairs, a desk, a temperamental printer, and a slew of frog-themed motivational posters, Freya awakes on the floor. Confused and overwhelmed, she tries to make sense of what is happening around her. The Curator confronts her with a mountain of paperwork, expertly evading her questions, while she slowly realises that she is dead, this is the afterlife, and the admin has only just begun. Is this really all her life amounted to? A mountain of paperwork documenting a series of forgotten dreams and lost motivation? But when John, a taxidermist from 1898 unexpectedly joins her in the small office room, Freya’s perspective changes while she grapples with the reality closing in around her.
Writer and performer Helen Cunningham has created a deliciously hilarious comedy that explores modern life, and the decisions that guide our life. Delving head-first into regret and complacency, she examines what makes our lives worth living, worth documenting, worth filling out paperwork in the afterlife for. What remains when a life is cut short? And do we get another chance to set things right?
As Freya unravels the unfinished threads of her own life, and discovers the devastating decisions that guided John’s tragic end, the audience is treated to incredibly well written comedy that lightens the mood of this dark narrative around a young artist who lost her way and got comfortable in the daily grind with a reliable income rather than working hard to further her artistry. A very familiar story to many, whether it is art or other passions, life often takes over and lets things slide to the wayside, and before we realise, another decade or two have passed and it feels too late to correct course.
This HR nightmare of an office-based afterlife thrives with Gwithian Evans’ delightfully neurotic Curator, an over-achieving desk jockey who delights in thorough paperwork and quick turnaround times. While Trey Fletcher’s John is a charming young man, curious about life in the future, harbouring dark secrets deep below the surface. Cunningham’s Freya is full of anxiety, close to a full breakdown, slowly realising that the tally at the end of her young life looks pretty grim due to her complacency and lack of motivation in face of the daily grind.
Curating is incredibly entertaining while also serving as a conversation starter to examine one’s own life, and whether we’d be happy with how it has turned out so far. An inspirational dark comedy that delights with clever writing, expertly crafted characters, and stellar performers who bring them to life vividly.
