London has many intimate theatre spaces, but none quite as intimate as Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals' Theatre for One. This free and distinctive theatrical experience places a single audience member face-to-face with a single performer inside a purpose-built booth.
Conceived by Artistic Director Christine Jones, the project has travelled the world since its first staging in 2003 and now arrives in London as part of the Barbican's Scene Change season, which presents transformative performances and gatherings in unexpected places. A perfect fit.
Six short plays rotate throughout the run, each written by leading Irish playwrights including Enda Walsh, Marina Carr and Mark O'Rowe. Audience members are not told which piece they will see before stepping into the booth for their private theatrical encounter, adding to the excitement and anticipation. Once inside, the lights dim and the dividing door slides open to reveal the ‘stage'.
The experience is immediate and intensely intimate. Each piece is a self-contained mini play—a short monologue unfolding over just a few minutes. The format requires complete concentration, making the brief running time feel exactly right to sustain the intensity of the encounter.
Three of the six plays were experienced (Cygnum Canticum, Ambition and The Wedding), each offering a very different story and theatrical style, ensuring that no two encounters feel quite the same. Given the element of surprise at the heart of the concept, no spoilers here.
The small booth is designed to maximise the limited space. Simple props create different situations and contexts for each story, sometimes enhanced by music that forms a subtle soundscape to help transform the tiny performance area.
What makes Theatre for One particularly striking is its intimacy. With the performer just inches away, there is nowhere to hide, and the experience feels unusually real—less like watching a play and more like being confided in by a close friend. You leave with the sense that you have briefly glimpsed into someone else's life or been trusted with a fragment of their personal story.
The booth is not fully soundproof, and noise from the busy Barbican foyer is occasionally distracting, particularly during quieter moments. But overall, Theatre for One offers a distinctive theatrical encounter—one that connects performer and audience in a deeply personal way.
Review: Lola Phillips Photo: Danny Bright