Review: All the Worst Parts (Baron's Court Theatre)

Review by Ollie Acres

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

All the Worst Parts, currently playing at the Baron’s Court Theatre, is everything a young, aspiring playwright could only dream of producing. The hilarious dark comedy will make you laugh out loud, leave you stranded on the edge of your seat, and maybe even make you shed a tear. Though the structure may, at first glance, be overly familiar of common post-Fleabag era theatre, this production constantly found new ways to surprise and move me across it’s high-octane seventy-minute runtime.

The one-woman dark comedy follows the disturbing aftermath of sexual violence against our unnamed protagonist (played by Sabrina Simohamed) and the trauma that scars, no matter how hard she tries to hide it. Many deep and speculatory questions are asked throughout, but contrasted with hilarious alternative lines including the scene-stealing, “Do you take your phone to the toilet with you when you’re having a sh*t or do you just try to focus and lock in?”

Our protagonist is a complex, flawed but heartbreakingly relatable character. Sabrina Simohamed plays the character with the upmost sincerity and maintains the near-impossible ability to still charm the audience even when her decisions aren’t exactly the wisest. The production is both written by and starring Simohamed, and watching her, I felt I was witnessing a star being born right in front of my eyes. Though I don’t know for certain, I would imagine that there is a considerable amount of semi-autobiographical content on show here and I would relish the chance to sit down with her to find out where a line was drawn, if at all, between fact and fiction.

For those who have not yet had the pleasure of attending, the Baron’s Court Theatre is an intimate, immersive venue below the charming ‘The Curtain’s Up’ pub and restaurant just a three-minute walk from Baron’s Court station. Few shows pair as well with their theatres as this one. Both the play and the venue ooze personality and charm that can create such an eerie, disturbing atmosphere when the audience is hit with one of the lighting designer’s signature jumpscare-sudden blackouts.

Both the lighting and sound design were huge standouts for me, plunging the audience into a confusing frenzy of disarray at the flick of a switch. The show uses strobe and colourful flashing lights frequently, creating the atmosphere of an awkward sweaty club, deep within the Soho underground. Dance clubs play a huge role in the narrative, featuring numerous distressing scenes amongst familiar London nightlife and universal house party experiences too. Similar to Fleabag or Chewing Gum Dreams, voiceovers are ever-present throughout the piece. Cleverly, as the tension builds, the voices and dialogue merge to become one malevolent force that looms over our protagonist as she repeatedly lies, hurts and deceives those around her.   

Early in the play, we see our protagonist getting dressed for her first ‘adult’ Halloween party, dressed as an angel equipped with a halo and wings made of pure white feathers, symbolising her innocence and naivety masked by her need to be desired. Later, in the midst of a mental breakdown, the crescendo arrives with her sacred bed pillows being torn apart and those same pure white feathers gliding through the air allowing for this traumatic call for help to turn into something angelic and strangely beautiful.

Additionally, a core, layered metaphor throughout is that of ‘what it means to share your bed’. Our protagonist recites that when she was young and having a sleepover, she would have to sleep as close as physically possible out of fear of what lived in the dark. Now she’s grown up, she doesn’t like sharing her bed. Its hers. In a heartbreaking moment of revelation, she notes that now she is no longer afraid of what is out of the bed but instead: who is in there with her. It is her space, and she doesn’t want to share: a brief but tragically beautiful layer of the narrative that truly captured my heart. 

Some scenes may have run a tad long and some jokes may not have fully landed for me but overall, I was left rather touched by this production and its stylish direction from young director Xhuliana Shehu. Upon leaving the venue, I overheard a gentleman note that the production was slightly ‘convoluted’ and he wished it had ‘picked a topic’. I couldn’t disagree more. The overlapping chapters and thematic switches of All the Worst Parts all come together to create an overwhelming, overstimulating but honest depiction of a young woman and why her flaws are what make her beautiful.

For those unsure of whether or not this production would be for you, the piece is hard to watch at times for sure, but nonetheless an important piece for any 16+ theatregoer to experience. Disturbing reinterpretations of Donna Summer songs, morally ambiguous characters, an endearing lead performance and so much more are what make this play a must-see, and make Sabrina Simohamed a star on the rise.

All the Worst Parts playied at the Baron’s Court theatre on April 19th and April 20th.

Rehearsal photography courtesy of the production