Review: The Olive Boy (Southwark Playhouse Borough)

The Olive Boy was written and performed by Ollie Maddigan, and is based on his experience of losing his mother and the events that followed as he grieved. Directed by Scott Le Crass, it is currently showing at Southwark Playhouse Borough. I attended the final preview.

Before the show started it was noticeably busy for a smaller space (The Little) and I particularly enjoyed the choice of music that was playing; lively and energetic, the songs set the pace for the majority of the performance, as from the moment our protagonist started speaking, there was the absolute certainty the character was a teenager, bounding around the stage with the energy of a puppy and the self-confident bravado that only someone of that age can have, despite their limited knowledge of the world at large. Reminiscent of The Inbetweeners, this initial introduction to teenage life brought many laughs from the audience, in particular when mispronounced words or factually incorrect details were confidently stated by The Olive Boy.

In this case, this typical teenage lack of world experience is balanced with the loss of a parent, and the grief that involves, along with the way that emotion projects out and effects relationships with other people, some of whom are also grieving, so the teenage behaviour also hides a raw internal truth that gradually appears as the narrative evolves. The emotional roller coaster you experience as this play continues is intense, going from laughing hard at the beginning to feeling absolutely devastated towards the end. I highly recommend taking tissues.

The lighting design (Adam Jefferys) is superb. (Warnings were given for strobe lighting as we walked into the theatre space, which should definitely be noted if you have light sensitivity.) The lighting clarified the movement between locations with its changes, from a school room to a counsellor’s office, party and more.  With an impressive casting move, ‘The Voice’ which is that of a counsellor, is portrayed by Ronni Ancona and this gives the counsellor a more 2D role fitting for this piece as the emotional distance from a professional is cleverly portrayed. The use of sound and music is also very subtle for the majority of the time, highly effective, and as the show comes to its conclusion the music moves to the forefront and packs a punch as a video is shown of Ollie and his mother; the same video shown at the start but this time underscored.  It’s an instant reminder that this is not just a play but based on the real-life experience of a teenager experiencing intense grief. If that reminder is not enough, once the play ends, Ollie then gives a speech on why we should all talk about grief and my personal reaction at that point went from wanting to give the character in the play the biggest hug, to respect for the fact that the writer has used his personal experience to speak to others in such a thoughtful and insightful way. This was marred with sadness that he has a maturity beyond his years because of his own life experiences.

Alongside the at-times cringeworthy teenage antics and portrayal of devastating loss, the play also includes layers of insight into human behaviour.  The experience of moving to a different house in a new location with a parent that is hardly known, whilst also leaving friends behind and trying to slot in in a bigger school where friendships are established is enough to traumatise any teenager, but even more than this, the depth of awareness of human interactions in this writing is very well perceived.  Trying to break into a friendship group at a new school, alongside having a hormone driven intense interest in girls, whilst clashing with your remaining living parent is a melting pot of emotion in itself.   But portrayal of the loss not only of a parent but also the resulting effect on a very well-developed relationship with a step parent was devastating.  If you are a parent or step parent (both in my case) this will resonate with you hard. I have never wanted to give a character a hug more in my life. 

The reality is that everyone will relate to this performance in one way or another.  I highly recommend catching it while you can. However, if you can’t catch this run, I do not think this is the last we will be seeing of The Olive Boy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Olive Boy is showing at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Little) until 31 January 2026.  Tickets are available here. There is also a YouTube video about The Olive Boy here.

If you would like to see more of my curtain call photographs from this and other shows, please visit my Instagram.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.