THEATRE REVIEW: No Limits - The Turbine Theatre, London.

I was so excited to review this brand-new performance, produced and cast by Sam Caldwell at Paper House Productions. It has been a few years in production due to the pandemic, but it blasted its way into my heart last night. This is about life having No Limits. We can follow our hearts and dreams, but we should not stay still. Keep moving forwards all the time, no matter what or who we compare ourselves to on social media or just how many 'likes' we get.

This is a young play in every way; with a young production team and young cast, music and lyrics written by Sam Thomas. This is how to make a successful show – youth means you have nothing to lose and all to gain. You can make it the way you want, and you can cast the most exciting people that appear at your auditions. I notice that I am probably one of the oldest here in the audience, but I absolutely love it. This is just the kind of show needed to inject life into younger generations, to get them into theatres. It is exciting, it is up-to-the-minute. It is 21st century complexity, touching on love, loss, gender and LGBTQ+ issues. This play says it how it is. No sugar coating. This is real life. No Disney happy endings here. Flatmates – all in their twenties navigating a path through the perils of life, love and ambition.

It is a performance of constantly shifting scenarios played by five amazing performers. Set to music, with few words; all dialogue is contained in the lyrics. The music is wonderful, and the lyrics are sensational – funny, open and heart-breaking, they touch a nerve, and all performed by these five powerful voices.

No Limits is going to be a cult hit, I am sure it is going to pick up a big following. The cast of five amazing performers, all with a portfolio of Top West End shows playing this little theatre in South London shows how important this little gem is. I think it is really cool, the lyrics, the set, the cast.

Life in your twenties is a minefield – taking steps into independent living and here we are discussing everyday relationship issues for these five flatmates. We are looking at how life and relationships are unpredictable, how stable and comfortable relationships end, how unsure of yourself you are when starting a new relationship. This is about a fear of being hurt, let down. It is about family loss, new life. Betrayal. Rebirth. Heartbreak. But yet the overwhelming instinct of wanting another body close to us, someone to relate to whether that’s friends, family or lovers, drives us forward. That is how we function and reproduce - the desire for love, companionship and sex.

These songs resonate with everyone in the room. We have all been there, we recognise ourselves somewhere in these stories. Heart-touching, humour and tears all wrapped into one and that was just the first half.

In the second half we see the flatmates prepare to leave the nest, but we see a darker and sadder side to these characters. Kinky sex references, catfishing your neighbour, stalking and one-night stands. Ending on the sad departure with their packing boxes. I want to end with me pressing the like button for these five amazing rising stars and their voices – Natalie May Paris, Hannah Lowther, Mary Moore, Michael Mather and Owen Clayton – who made this show their own. Their sheer talent, exuberance and drive that make ‘No Limits’ the phenomenon it is going to be.

Reviewer - Penny Curran
on - 17.2.23