Kimberly Akimbo
22 September 2026
Hampstead Theatre
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Kimberly Akimbo, currently running at the Hampstead Theatre until 14 November, is an upbeat musical about a teenage girl trying to find her place in the world. Kimberly is about to turn 16, but looks 74 due to a genetic condition that makes her age four times faster than her peers. With an unstable family, a newly pregnant mother, and an ex-con aunt with an idea for a get-rich-quick scheme, Kim tries to find friendship and belonging before her time runs out.
The stage design is delightful for this show, with a rotating house that transforms into a variety of different settings throughout. There is so much colour, giving everything a very whimsical, 90s party style vibe, which is continued in the costumes.
With a very strong cast that belts out each note perfectly, if feels like this should be a winning combination. Unfortunately, for me, the story just does not hold up. That is to say, quality wise everything about the production is fantastic, but the narrative itself is just very iffy. Starting with the theatre kids being portrayed as the butt of the joke and absolute losers, asking the audience to laugh at them rather than with them, over portrayal of the criminal aunt, down to the use of a medical condition to garner laughs.
Kimberly’s condition is unnamed in the musical but described in similar terms to Progeria, a very real, very rare genetic disorder. The musical feels very exploitative of its subjects, setting up the audience to laugh at the characters rather than build an emotional bond with them. It feels flippant and bizarrely callous.
