Everyone’s Worried About Eve, Bread and Roses Theatre Review
Written by Greta for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Everyone's Worried About Eve, presented by one-woman company Plucky Productions, invites the audience to be part of Eve's birthday celebration. We are the live studio audience of the sitcom she has been living inside her head for the past year – with her brain assuming the role of the rigorous showrunner that would like to keep everything smooth and linear, though Eve’s experience is nothing but.
Though Eve usually likes birthdays, something feels off this year. The tension lies in whether to keep shutting off the source of her strain, using deflection as the main technique not to give herself away, or to finally confront her pain. Through references such as Mario Kart, The Great Pretender by The Platters and, most notably, The Matrix, we see Eve’s struggle with tackling problems directly (the "red pill" approach), bottling up her distress and trying to smooth her fraying edges.
The premise has potential, but the execution is still at an early phase. Weaving pop culture with deeper themes of grief and coping is a brilliant framework, but the overall narrative doesn’t fully evolve into the rich emotional journey that this piece could be. Alex John plays Eve as genuine and endearingly awkward, making the audience inclined to be brought along for the journey. The limited technical setup enhances the show’s sense of authenticity but limits, at times, its depth and cohesiveness. The interactions with the audience and the use of lip sync bring some playful energy to the performance, and just need some embedding in the world of the play to be fully effective.
With a bit more polishing, which could be brought about by the support of an external dramaturg and/or director, Everyone’s Worried About Eve could become a striking show about the different ways we navigate a world that can feel alien and lonely. The foundation is there—a relatable main character, some clever ideas, and an interesting framework—but it needs some shaping to further it from a work-in-progress to a full production. The potential for deeper emotional resonance is clear, and it’s a show worth keeping an eye on as it evolves.
