Butter Side Up Theatre Company’s Thestival 2026 (Night Two) – 30 October 2026, Lantern Theatre
Review by Peter Taranaski.
Day #2 of Butter Side Up Theatre’s “Thestival” continues at the Lantern Theatre in two halves. The first is an original play with a distinctly sci-fi edge of the dystopian nature called “Echo Chamber”, the second is a whirlwind medly of drama, comedy and light entertainment that keeps the audience on their toes.
We start with “Echo Chamber” (written and directed by Becky Cleary-Holland, produced by Anthony Garbett and stage managed by Alex Wood). As mentioned it is a play laced with sci-fi, Black Mirror-esque morality and examination of the role of technology in life management, power dynamics, and a new face to controlling behaviour. We start with Sarah who lives with her partner Daniel, but there’s another person in the relationship, the AI home system ECHO. Daniel works for a tech company and has put ECHO in as a means of “helping” Sarah to live a life free of the personal demons that have been seen as a sticking point in their relationship; the play shows the progression of ECHO in the characters’ lives. We spend time with her friends too (as one celebrates upcoming marriage) and see snapshots of other perspectives as the plot moves along.
The light and sound is good (thanks to Charlie Billingsley and Chris Marshall-Unitt). There are moments of fun (in the pub / club), moments of anger (in the flat), and a series of shades in between where the lighting lets you know what is happening as it alternates. The voice of ECHO (Ellie Madeira) is both soothing and neutral, as the play progresses the voice gets faster and more intense; the play is able to convey the feeling of overwhelmed emotion and panic really well. The soundtracks within rely on creepy cerebral (Radiohead’s Kid A) or foreshadowing the situation and self-doubt (SIA), these and others add a lot of what is going on. At the centre is the device itself, a big framed screen with a glowing blue border and everything revolves around it (as you would expect). The set serves a purpose with the tables, chairs, armchairs and bar as appropriate, there isn’t much downtime between scenes.
This is a good watch. As you might think, Sarah (Hannah Wade) starts out as the apprehensive character whose feelings about being out of control and unfocused (following a work burnout) allows the AI in to help, like a kind of helpful Vampire at the door who has brought cookies. Wade’s character is doubting and, like a hot air balloon in strong winds, she portrays someone who feels like they have more control than they actually do. Wade shows a mentally beaten and defensive character whose love has led to being a person under full control of another. Her anger is palpable when she ends up being given a time-out that the AI has given her before it can unlock her flat door and she plays the doubting, conflicted nature of the character with strength.
Daniel O’Key’s role as Daniel, the tech-bro boyfriend portrays a character with a stunning amount of self-denial, privilege and calm, but inherently manipulative demeanour. He has an answer for everything when it comes to the Tech, “Its not a punishment… its pattern recognition”. As a grooming kind of man, he walks the tightrope between malicious and coercive behaviour and plausible deniability with skill. The character is a fishing net of tech jargon, and O’Key is as cold and clinical as it comes, even when presented with the evidence of cheating. His skills are pushed at the apex of the play when he experiences first-hand what he has been dishing out.
Everyone else is great too. Sarah’s friends: Tom (Rob Place), Ollie (Michael Hudson), Chloe (Emily Capp) and Kate (Georgia Deith) all have their moments to shine. Tom is funny and somewhat clueless and with a good heart. Ollie lunges forward as the voice of truth in his absurd, energetic and petty way. His energy radiates throughout this group and alongside his peers bringing the necessary lighter parts of this play to life. Kate and Chloe are brilliant supporting characters, Deith’s character has a punchy, headstrong attitude. Also, Dr Laurence (Liam Jewison) is a vehicle for solid advice, and serves as the voice of reason, and Anna (Sinead Parker) in her brief time as Daniel’s colleague is effective in her ambivalence and own love for Daniel.
Overall it is a good production. It sets out to look at this plausible tech-nightmare and takes more than a reasonable microscopic look at the elements of control, recovery, power and choice. It escalates like a slow chokehold and, in its message, feels like a prescription on how to help someone in this situation and the need for the added human element. Sarah is quite embedded into this system of control, the feeling of her loss of connection and reality is tangible, the subject matter is relevant, and everyone gives it a good spin round. It is all rather meta in that the tech-bro jargon comes thick and fast, sometimes overwhelming the script; Sarah’s agony is transferred to the audience as we get more than a taste of the doublespeak. We appreciate that this is given time to simmer and settle and overwhelm our minds like a spiders descending, dangling legs. It is definitely a play one has to be in the mood for; the cycle of language and reframing / gaslighting does take its toll and batters the senses after a while, but the side characters keep it running and fresh.
The second half of the show entitled Dystopia & Deception (directed by Amy Longbottom, Daniel O’Key and Jamie Wainwright, choreographed by Michael Hudson and George Tunstall and accompanied by Jack Wheatley on the piano) is a series of skits and shorts that showcases the talents and interests of the wider “Butter Side Up” group. We love the youthful energy embodied within “Butter Side Up”, they frequently lead with their best foot forward and bring a smile to our faces.
Like a Twister ice lolly, the selection of skits are strongly striped, distinct flavours. with there being bursting musical numbers (from stage and Disney) as well as deeply dramatic and dwelling pieces (original and from TV). The comedy routines feel that an added serving of sprinkles on the top.
We would struggle to talk about all, but we shall mention some of our favourites here.
In “Welcome to the Internet” (Avery Briddon, Christy Fitzsimons, Connor Varley, Michael Winrow, Rob Place) we get a magnetic, all-encompassing and bouncing rendition of Bo Burnham’s, “Welcome to the Internet”. Starting straightforward and escalating in a cavalcade of weird and dodgy internet pastimes and fetishes, we always have time to see, “a little bit of everything all of the time” where “boredom is a crime”. The group bring the song to life in the choreography as the simple query turns into a claustrophobic dancing maelstrom of kicks and spinning circles. Brilliant stuff.
There were some musical numbers. “Easy Street” (Becky Cleary-Holland, Georgia Deith, Michael Hudson), from Annie, was a fantastic opening musical number. The small stage at the Lantern seemed a little bigger with this number, the movement was crisp and everyone was electric. “Mother Knows Best” (Georgia Deith), the standout song of manipulation from Tangled was entrancing, and the Lion King’s “Be Prepared” (Avery Briddon, Ellie Madeira, John Ashmore, Michael Winrow) was exceptional. Winrow in his sharp suit and wit was an excellent voice and foil to the hysterics of the Hyena actors.
“Four Yorkshire Women” (Alison Breisford, Beck Cleary-Holland, Georgie Tunstall, Sophie Knowles) is, of course, a version of the famous Monty Python sketch, “Four Yorkshiremen”. Originally, it is a farce where Yorkshiremen compete in grander and grander accounts of “how hard they had it” growing up as children. Here we have a feminist spin and it works fantastically. Swapping the cardboard box for the tampon box is not the full extent of their misery because whatever the patriarchy has gifted the Pythons, they never had to contend with “having their throat cut by a shard of glass from the pay ceiling”. Well thought out, it tickles like cold macaroni down the back of your hoodie.
There was also some drama. We enjoyed the stomach-punching rendition of “Children of Earth” (Becky Cleary-Holland, Connor Varley, Daniel Higgins, John Ashmore, Rob Place). The moral unpleasantness of grasping a horrifying situation where an alien species has held Earth’s children to ransom hurt as much as it did when we originally watched the Torchwood episode years ago. This brings us to our favourite parts of the show.
We found two parts that reached us the most. First was “The Funny Guy” (Christy Fitzsimons, Rob Place). It starts out disarming as a skit about a failing, unfunny, awkward comedian that is dying on stage. It spirals very quickly into a diatribe about the comedian’s situation and how he has arrived where he is. Sensitive and rage-fuelled, it looks at the price of fame, control and sexual abuse, and how a person tries to navigate their thoughts of self-responsibility for their predicament. Fitzsimons is reaching some deep places in this performance. Despite the uncomfortable nature of what the skit metamorphised into, the monologue froze the air and moved the heart. Secondly, we were enamoured by the conviction and strength of the performance of “Nobody Needs to Know” by Tara Kulbatski. I’ve never seen “The Last Five Years” film (which this is from) but the emotion, longing and grit from this song was palpable. A brilliant bit of singing, a brilliant series of movements across the stage.
We love a variety show and these clips were a lot of fun (even if some were quite dark like a puddle of misery!) Wheatley’s piano was great, the choreography was seamless and quick. Personally they have come way a long way since (I personally) saw “Batman, the spoof musical” all those years ago. Their group is definitely a bright material in the patchwork that is Sheffield theatre and I’d check out if you get a chance in the near future.
