Review: THE SHITHEADS, Royal Court Theatre

The Shitheads is the perfect example of the importance of the Royal Court to London’s present day new theatre scene. The debut play from poet Jack Nicholls, this is a show that swings big... and the result is unlike anything else currently playing in the city.

Nicholls’s play takes place in prehistoric Britain – the era of the caveman – but there’s no grunting or sack robes here. In designer Anna Reid’s costumes, familiar fur and shades of brown meet modern silhouettes and recognisable items like shoes and jeans. The same can be said of the play’s language, which is recognisably contemporary without feeling jarringly anachronistic.

With any history play, and especially one set so far back in the past, there’s a concern that it’ll feel irrelevant or boring, disparate from the present day – The Shitheads’s intricately crafted aesthetic asserts it as firmly in conversation with 2026. 

In many ways, The Shitheads is a straightforward narrative – but what sets it apart is the stakes at play. Life and death take on a unique unpredictability in this uncharted time, giving the play a strange, otherworldly quality. 

It’s worth noting that The Shitheads is co-directed by Aneesha Srinivasan and Royal Court Artistic Director David Byrne. Byrne proves himself as an AD who still knows how to direct, as the script is injected with a thrilling creativity. The Shitheads deals in hope and despair, and its directing duo maintain its central idea of the timelessness of humanity. 

The Shitheads tackles big topics: allusions are drawn to racism and misogyny, as well as the thin line between love and hate. It’s also a play that focusses on storytelling and identity, with a subtle nod to metatheatre. However, the sheer number of big themes woven into the script are perhaps its main flaw: there's so much to think about that the show can feel sprawling rather than focussed, losing a little of its potential impact.

Each of Nicholls’s characters is vividly sketched, despite the lack of modern personality signifiers, and brought to life by deeply committed performances. Jacoba Williams as lead role Clare dances on the line between menacing and youthful, while the bulk of the humour rests on an endearingly magnetic Annabel Smith as her younger sister Lisa. Ami Tredea becomes the moral heart of the piece as Danielle, while there are strong supporting performances from Peter Clements (unsettling) and Jonny Khan (wild and bright). 

The Shitheads is one of the most creatively ambitious, large-scale productions to have taken over the Jerwood Upstairs, and much of this can be credited to designer Anna Reid. Reid builds a mesmerising set, taking a realistic cave and adding contemporary details that match the play’s unconventional relationship to time. There are several awe-inspiring set reveals - far from easy to pull off in such small space.

Many of these are also due to Alex Fernandes’s lighting design, which plays with sunlight and darkness to close in the walls of this high-stakes fable. The vastness of the design means audiences feel as on-edge as the characters, constantly looking around the nooks and crannies of the set to avoid surprise appearances. It’s great work.

Expanding the design world of the play are Finn Caldwell’s two puppets: an elk and a small child. While very stylistically different, the puppet direction and movement humanises them both, as well as adding to the visual spectacle of the piece. The elk in particular is truly hypnotic to watch - watch out, War Horse. 

The Shitheads is the epitome of a big swing that paid off: this weird, not-so-little debut play deserves to be a benchmark for those making new work that thinks outside the box.

The Shitheads runs at The Royal Court Theatre (Jerwood Upstairs) until 14 March.