The Players of Diadon by Hideout Theatre Review
Written by Bronagh for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Content warnings: distressing or potentially triggering themes, strong language/swearing, threat of violence, reference to suicide, reference to sexual activity.
In a kingdom far away, a company performs the life story of King Diadon for the 18,338th time. However, this time is different. King Diadon has had enough, and wants something fresh. The only con? They have three days to come up with something. Will the team manage it? Has newcomer to the company, Rick, bit off more than he can chew?
We walk into the Drayton Arms Theatre, on first impressions, a delightfully small theatre above the Drayton Arms Pub on Old Brompton Road. The setting is sparse, with a box in the middle of the floor and a table and chair to the side. Ye olde versions of songs are playing, conjuring up images of knights jousting along to Billie Eilish. This instantly put me a smile on my face, and I knew I was in for quite the ride.
On first impressions, The Players of Diadon is very silly and low-key slapstick. We meet the company, mainly up a height and running around like headless chickens. Enter Rick (Toby Thompson), who has been summoned to join the company at royal request, and instantly wonders what on earth he has got himself involved with. The next hour is extremely comical, rather surreal and completely eccentric. There are a few serious matters peppered throughout, including suicide, which counteract the humour and are dealt with more seriously as you would expect.
Eccentricity is good, but sometimes can it be a bit much? I suspect so. As much as I found The Players of Diadon good old silly fun, there were times I wanted it to be more stripped back and, dare I say, maybe a bit more serious. A lot was going on at once; it could very well just be the way my brain works, but I did struggle with this slightly.
Kudos to the cast, all of whom were a great watch with brilliant comedic timing. Huzzah (Chloe Cooper) in particular was a great watch, as well as Jessica Enemokwu at Camille, managing to combine French class and total silliness wonderfully.
I mentioned that the theatre was, and I’ll quote myself, ‘delightfully small’. It certainly was a delight until about fifteen minutes in, and the seats started to feel quite uncomfortable and a lack of leg room was apparent. It seems only the back and front row have decent leg room, so if you do go to this theatre, perhaps try to bag tickets in those rows. It was also rather hot, and the space could definitely benefit from some sort of air conditioning. Of course, I wasn’t there to review the seats and temperature but I do think this is worth mentioning.
Overall, The Players of Diadon does exactly what it says on the tin, and is certainly an hour of good fun and silliness galore. I believe it is also making its way up to Edinburgh so do try and fit this into your Fringe programme if you can!
★ ★ ★
