EDINBURGH 2026 Review: I THINK I HATE ACTORS, Just The Tonic At The Caves
Runs until 30 August.
Since her two mums took her to see Matilda The Musical, Roo Sutcliffe’s dream has always been to be on stage. After attending Sylvia Young Theatre School and none other than The BRIT School, she’s qualified to say that all actors are insufferable. Surrounded by posh kids with trust funds and glitzy agents, she felt out of place for much of her life. “It’s all very [jazz hands] and I don’t know if I’m very [jazz hands].”
After growing up among the hypocrisies, pressures, and heartbreaking of being a professional performer, she’s ready to put the industry to rights. Sutcliffe is a force of deadpan and self-deprecating nature. She paces her jokes perfectly, knowing exactly how long to drag a pause before she quickly follows it with another penetrating observation. Sure, the piece is obviously self-indulgent, but Sutcliffe never hides it.
She is unbearable in the best possible way as she calls out awful practices and points out how utterly absurd actor training really is once you de-contextualise it. All the while, though, her fierce love for the craft shines through. Her comic slant is delightfully extravagant, and her personality is infectious, joyous, a bit à la Charley Marlowe.
Roo Sutcliffe is funny. Properly funny. Her gags are clever, and her physicality is equally remarkable. Thank goodness her mothers sat through her dramatic readings of The Hungry Caterpillar while she was dressed as Elton John when she was a child and subsequently sold their cat to afford her training. She has a great future ahead of her.
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