Big Dog at Riverside Studios Review
Lauryn Jenkins (Jasmin) and Tumba Katanda (Eve). Photo: Danny Kaan.
As new starter Eve is hired as a ghost writer to famous true crime influencer, Cassie Does Crime, she learns quickly that her Cambridge education and verbosity is not girly-pop enough for TikTok. But her first assignment still checks notes ‘ate and left no crumbs’.
The play offers a full urban dictionary lesson on ‘Glitterspeak’, a term coined by American comedian Liza Shlesinger to describe infantilising, hyper-sassy phrases marketed as female empowerment but instead used to sell t-shirts, pencil cases or as in this play, an ideology. The play does well to capture the irony of a corporation building a modern, trust based environment with weekly 1:1s and office-wide manifestation times alongside never being promoted, given a raise or even able to meet the girlboss herself, the infamous Cassie. This irony is pushed even further by the actual content they’re creating …
Tumba Katanda as the new employee Eve offers a great balance between logical and likeable as our fish out of water wanting to wade deeper. Exposition and Gen Z translations are woven excellently into the dialogue by writer Izzy Radford, who also gives a charming performance as colleague Scarlett, a full Cassie does Crime Kool-aid drinker and TikTok obsessive. The office is under the tight control of Lauryn Jenkins’ Jasmin, with a breakout comedic performance which convinced me she’d be a great cult leader, or even the often more charismatic cult recruiter. The double standards and mental gymnastics performed by the office team is astounding and well portrayed by the ensemble.
The main action of the play focuses on the day to day of running a social media empire, dealing with hate in the comment sections, potential cancellations, and how to seamlessly weave an ad read into a story of femicide. The design team have elevated the premise to its heights, from Grace Ramsey being able to find all those different pieces of office furniture in hot pink, to Pierre Flasse’s perfect dance track “Cassie Does Crime theme song” to Jacob Henney’s creatively effective lighting design.
I found it very fun to watch but do wonder if an actual Gen Z audience member would find it … cringe? How slang changes has always been a source of mockery between generations but, much like Millennials themselves, it’s getting a little old. However the play balances this perfectly for me, the humour being effective throughout due to great writing and performances all tied together under Zoë Templeman-Young’s direction.
There is also a grounded, real heart to this story from recurring comments under Cassie’s videos we hear from Eliza. This escalates and with a commanding performance by Eleanor Cross delivers a satisfying conclusion to the underlying more serious subject of the play as Eliza searches for accountability in a desensitised office, industry and world.
Without revealing too much detail (much like Cassie’s own videos) this touching, timely and hilarious play is not only worth a watch, it’s worth a like, comment, share and subscribe.
★★★★
Reviewed by Brad, July 2026. Disclaimer: Tickets were gifted in return for a review. All opinions are our own.