First things first. A Slow Fire left me feeling puzzled. Not just during, but also on the tube home and at the time of writing this review. I’m no stranger to more puzzling plays, enjoying when the bits and bobs of information comes together and the excitement when everything becomes clear. However, this is one which could have done with being slightly more obvious and contained some more excitement.

We meet Ashton and Reece (Ross Gaynor and Ian Toner) in a bunker post apocalypse. Not that I realised this until I reread the Jermyn Street website during the interval. Things are instantly confusing. Are Ashton and Reece lovers? Friends? Rehearsing for a play? No, they’re cooped up in a bunker acting out moments of ‘hope’ from before the apocalypse. These snippets were enjoyable to watch, a particular favourite being the interaction between Reece and his teenage son Kai, acted out by Ashton. A whole production could have centred around this five minutes alone. Gaynor and Toner’s performances were undoubtedly a great watch, Ashton the more surly and sarcastic one and Reece more awkward. There are ripples of humour but not quite enough.

We’re left with a lot of unanswered questions, which I believe lets the play down. Don’t get me wrong, I love a piece of art that gets me thinking. But this didn’t particularly get me thinking in a way I’d expect of the theatre, just left me slightly baffled. We don’t hear anything about said apocalypse, except that the weather is now just wind and fire and for some reason train tracks are disappearing? The latter was lost on me. The next thing we know Presley (Fionn Ó Loingsigh) has arrived, fracturing the dynamic whilst armed with pork and a gun. The pace certainly picks up when Presley is introduced, which is very welcome. He’s walked for months and came across a farm where he pilfered the meat from, and judging by how it was savoured by Ashton and Reece this suggests that it was good to eat. So what on earth is going on outside this bunker? There clearly is a world out there.

A Slow Fire is written by Simon Stephens, a celebrated British-Irish playwright. There was some fantastic writing throughout and some pleasant scenes, such as Ashton and Reece swaying gently to the one record that they have in their possession. I just don’t quite get what Stephens was trying to convey in this play. Some themes are touched on – grief, sexuality and survival. Given these themes, audiences really should ‘feel’ something. But it all felt random, glimmers of hope throughout that we may get something juicy only to be let down. Two hours of obscurity (plus a fifteen minute interval) with unnecessarily long blackouts at times to separate the scenes. The set, by Andrew Clancey, was fine and how you would expect a bunker to look. Bleak and sad.

I wanted to love A Slow Fire, having loved everything I’ve seen previously at the Jermyn Street Theatre. Maybe I took it all too literally, maybe this type of play just isn’t for me. Some people may have loved it, but for me the fire burnt out extremely quickly.

A Slow Fire Plays At Jermyn Street Theatre until 26th September 2026.

★★

Written by Bronagh for Theatre and Tonic, August 2026.

Content warnings: strong language, sexual references, depictions of and references to violence and death, use of a firearm, loud noises, flashing lights and haze

A Slow Fire at Jermyn Street Theatre Review

Mega Church Xmas Play at Libra Theatre, London Review

Interview with Jessica Brindle, A Month in the Country at Donmar Warehouse