Review: BRIGHT at Goodwood Theatre

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, 31st July and 1st August 2026.

It takes a lot to lure me away from a roaring fire and a sleepy dog, to take two buses across town in the middle of winter but Bright, a new play from Sean Riley and the Free Agents Youth Theatre drew me to the Goodwood Theatre, not once, but twice. I am a great admirer of Sean Riley and his company. Asked about memorable nights in the theatre, I always speak of Beautiful Words, from 2008, three acts, three stories of migration, perceptive, compassionate and deeply moving. Beautiful words indeed.

Bright is a comic tale of love and mystery. It’s set in Poplar, one of London’s poorest localities. It is 1818, the Regency period, though not the regency of Bridgerton, Austen, or Georgette Heyer. As the lights go up we are presented with two households, both alike in poverty, desperation, and hope. The Pittfields, headed by Augustus and Nancy, live by providing fresh corpses to the medical profession, with a useful sideline in rescuing young ladies lost in the dark streets. On the opposite side, a boarding house run by Ebe Zuckerman, who provides cheap lodging for interesting people, including a coloratura medium and her friend but, most importantly, the twins, Octavia and Darius Nettlefold. Ebe, as we discover  acquired the guardianship of the two by winning them from their father in a card game.

Introduce into the story a doctor, who is a customer for fresh meat, and a couple who may be husband and wife, but turn out to be not what they seem.

The cast bring their characters to life with so strong a sense of identity because they created them and the story from the ground up, developing them in a long and deep rehearsal program. Three members of the cast returned from overseas to be part of the community. Most of the men were instructed not to cut their hair a year ago with impressive results. Directed by Sean Riley they present a theatrically delicious and witty adventure. The script is sparkling with jokes, some most obvious, others more subtle. Early in the play, for example, Augie Pittfield, the paterfamilias, is having a moment of despairing self-reflection. ‘Get off the cross’, one of his sons calls out, ‘we need the wood.’

So who are these people? Jimmy Pittfield is Tom McCann and his love for the elegant and literate Octavia Nettlefold, the wonderfully named Miranda Gillam Grant, is a mainspring of the story, crossing the barriers of education and class. Indiana Rodgers and Chelsea Bishop are Augie and Nancy Pittfield, Penelope Skordos, their daughter, Polly, and Joe Redmond their prizefighting son, Ned. Edward Owens, as Billy, stands out with a speech impediment and a constant stream of malapropisms that catch the audience by the ears.

Down the road, Sam McKenna brings dignity to Ebe, whose own experience of repression has spurred his charitable nature, aided by Sailor Tyler, as Rocky, his maid of all work. Nancy Marshall is a scream, and I mean that, as a psychic medium with a weakness for the extreme heights of the Mozartian repertoire, ably accompanied by Emma Lamb, as Cecilia Hyce. Reuben Fernee is Dr. Fletcher, who carves up bodies and plays a mean piano.

Finn Caulfield is Darius, Octavia’s twin, the incarnation of the romantic youth, radiantly curious about the world of nature and naive about the corruption of the word, easy prey for Auden Harvey and Isobel Disher as Montague and Charity Nicholls, who met Darius in the Lake District and have followed him to London with nefarious intent. Their comeuppance brings the two households together in a very gripping finale.

Tragically Jimmy is stabbed and his death will break your heart. The final moment of the play turns sadness to joy as you realise that you are back at the start of the play. Octavia is at her desk writing. A young man is asleep on the couch. He speaks, and you realise that its Jimmy, and that everything you witnessed has been her creation. Elderly theatregoer was deeply touched.

Photography, Tobias Cichero.

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