Cowards! - Fringe Review

Thomas Levi
1 hour ago
2 min read

★★★☆☆

Cowards! is a new play billed as a modern Shakespearean tragedy set in a shared house; it mixes heightened language, fourth-wall breaks and naturalistic drama into a compact 45-minute two-hander. The result is thoughtful and undeniably promising, even if it never quite decides what kind of play it wants to be.

Daphne, an aspiring writer, and Oleander, an actor, spend an evening in their shared flat navigating the fallout from an emotional revelation. Both are storytellers in different ways, each reshaping the truth through their chosen art form. As the pair circle one another, their carefully constructed versions of events begin to unravel, exposing the fears and insecurities that have kept them emotionally guarded for so long.

Oliver Manley's Oleander performs with effortless charisma, embracing the larger-than-life confidence of a drama student who enjoys performing even in everyday conversation. His theatricality makes every aside feel playful rather than self-conscious. Kate Hampton takes the opposite approach as Daphne, grounding the character in quieter, more restrained choices that reflect her admiration for film acting. Watching those two performance styles collide becomes one of the production's most engaging ideas, with their different artistic philosophies constantly shaping the rhythm of the dialogue.

Where Cowards! struggles is in its identity. Shakespearean language sits alongside contemporary naturalism. Direct audience address gives way to fly-on-the-wall realism before shifting again into moments that feel distinctly cinematic. Each device has its purpose, but together they create a production that is constantly changing its mind. Rather than deepening the storytelling, the changing styles make the emotional journey harder to follow because the audience is recalibrating how they're supposed to watch it.

There are scenes of raw honesty, and several comic exchanges which land with refreshing ease. When the play allows its characters to simply exist together in their cramped kitchen, the emotional stakes become wonderfully real.

Cowards! is well worth seeing for its performances. It already demonstrates a strong understanding of character and dialogue, and with clearer stylistic direction it could become something truly exceptional. Right now, its biggest obstacle isn't a lack of ambition; it’s having too many interesting ideas competing for centre stage. Ironically, for a play called Cowards!, a few bolder creative decisions could make it fearless.