Butter Side Up Theatre Company’s Time At The Bar – 23 January 2026, CADS Denby Suite
Review by Claire Taranaski.
Butter Side Up Theatre Company’s latest production last night not only transported me back to the 1990s, the decade of my teens and university years, but also to the old Theatre Deli venue, which I haven’t been in since it closed two years ago but as the CADS Denby Suite shows it still makes a great performance venue and an ideal location for this production.
Written and directed by company member Charlie Lloyd, Time At The Bar is both a contemporary twist on the time travel story but also a story of family, music and drink and club culture. The 1990s may be three decades ago (how did that happen?) but a lot of things remain the same, and whilst I’m old enough to have seen “Human Traffic” when it originally came out at the cinema, Charlie and the rest of the cast and crew have discovered it and will make everyone in the audience want to either rewatch it or see it for the first time.
Charlie’s script is full of natural pub and club conversations, that never feel forced or scripted, and his work with the cast to get the very best out of them makes it feel like you are observing a group of patrons of the venues, not a cast acting them out. He captures the perfect balance between comedy and emotion from start to end and whilst he could have ended with the classic butterfly effect, a love of films led him in the direction of lining up for a sequel and us eager to find out what happened to the characters and the world next.
Time At The Bar centres on Isaac (played by Andrew Wilkinson) at the wake of his older brother and his best friend Tiny (played by Emily Capp and reminded me in the role of actress Rebecca Atkinson). Both were wonderful in the roles with their friendship shining through and whilst Andrew captured the emotional rollercoaster of grief and just having to get through the day, Emily captured why Tina was his best friend and supporting him through it and their unexpected adventure.
Whilst packed with great two handers, my favourites were between Isaac’s brother John (played by Christy Fitzsimons) and everyone’s favourite drug user Ant (Michael Simpson) at the beginning of act two, which went from John explaining the plots of films that have not come out yet in 1994 seamlessly into families and mental health; to the moving conversation between Isaac and Garry (aka the Wizard) played by Glen Gregory later in the same act; the best came throughout the show from Daniel O’Key and Harvey Higgins as 1990s doormen Bernard and Colin, who deserve their own two hander show of them just sharing their views on life and working on the door.
Bernard and Colin had stiff competition for best bar staff of the night, with Jamie Wainwright as the 2024 bouncer being everything you imagine a bouncer with attitude to be and showing incredible stage presence, attitude and confidence in the role, whilst Rob Place playing the barman with very different attitudes in both decades (like Gwyneth Paltrow’s haircut in Sliding Doors he proved all you need is a moustache to differentiate yourself).
Rob also portrayed a great drug taking clubber, though in my favourite scene of the show where everyone was on the dance floor, in a scene that well rehearsed to the point where it felt completely natural, my favourite was a small easy to miss detail from Amy Longbottom, whose character was so high on drugs she was counting her own fingers with a look of amazement.
Behind the scenes I must praise Chris Marshall-Unitt for lighting and Becky Cleary-Holland for sound, as this transported the audience to the bar and club atmosphere, a choice of music that immediately transported us to the 90s (I had to stop my self singing along during the interval) and one of the best prop’s ever (I graffitied, light up toilet).
It would be wrong for Time At The Bar not to be picked up and performed by other companies across the country, but in the meantime whether you grew up in the 1990s or 2020s,are a fan of time travel, comedy, music or new theatre, this production by the original cast and crew should not be missed.
