Review: DDF at Mount Oswald Hub

By Emily Hatwell

As part of Durham Drama Festival, Polloi Productions, Third Space Theatre Company, and the Bailey Theatre Company all showed up to the Mount Oswald Hub to showcase three new student-written plays, with originality being a key focus across the trio of performances. While performance details will be kept to the individual reviews, the overall presentation of the evening was strong, with the technical aspects such as lighting and sound fitting well with the many strong acting performances on show, especially when considering the tight turnaround and deadlines involved in staging a production at the DDF.

Mythweaver (Polloi Productions)

★★★☆☆

The first performance was Polloi Production’s Mythweaver. The plot focused on the Greek poet Sappho, played by Emilia Lewis, and her trials in love. Lewis’ central performance was incredibly convincing, with her frustrations in life being made clearly evident. Particularly, Iris Varla lended a commanding supporting presence as Aphrodite. 

Pearl D’souza, Khaliun Mark, and Grace Heron made up the rest of the cast as Eirana, Atthis, and Kleis respectively. D’souza was enchanting as Eirana, with her appeal to Sappho being clearly evident, while Mark’s melancholic energy lent the character of Atthis some complexity that Sappho does not credit her for. Heron’s Kleis also injected some humanity into Sappho’s character. These contrasting characters played off each other well, and I would have liked for more to happen between the characters without always having the presence of Sappho.

However, some of the weaker aspects of the performance lay in the plot. With the play being the longest of the three shown that evening, the script sometimes came across as a little bloated and not having enough plot to carry it. Additionally, some of the blocking came across as a little stiff and awkward, and with several of the actors seeming a little uncertain on their feet. This made the performance come across not as well as it could have done. This is especially because the main strengths lie in the floral and heartfelt language of Charlotte Walton’s script, which would have benefited from having the actors be a little more still on their feet to allow the words to speak for themselves.

Another blessing came from the more technical aspects of the production, with the costumes and set dressing creating a sense of immersion. The overall production was radiant, with the frequent references to nature. In some aspects, this made it seem quite calming, which juxtaposed Sappho’s fraught emotions. The play could have been further elevated by having more substance to back up the immaculate imagery suggested by the script and technical aspects.

Oranges and Lemons (Third Space Theatre Company)

★★★★★

Third Space Theatre Company then followed with Oranges and Lemons, which featured an ensemble cast of characters returning to the school of their youth after their headteacher dies around the Christmas period. Miranda Pharoah’s script was tight and witty, with each scene exposing a little bit of each of the characters and their relations to each other. Being utterly British, these characters joke and josh, but then this was undercut by the dark stories accumulated from the group’s school days and the years following. The script was oddly reminiscent of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, with its emphasis on the importance of childhood and the memories that follow with age.

The cast had incredible chemistry, with them slowly exposing the cruelties of childhood that they still carry with them

All of the actors all had a strong stage presence, with it being impossible to single out a particular standout. The cast had incredible chemistry, with them slowly exposing the cruelties of childhood that they still carry with them. By having characters enter and leave at different points, they were able to create dramatic figures that were dynamic and complex . All of the actors accurately represented the awkwardness that the characters would realistically feel after not seeing each other for several years.

It may have been easy for the premise to ruin any potential tension by having all the characters recount what happened in the past tense, but this was not the case, with the stories that the audience learned still creating an air of mystery around the whole school. The subtlety of this was the script’s greatest strength, with only one of the character interactions being a little on-the-nose (one towards the end with Laurie Davidson’s Hamish and Thomas Pizii’s Hec, despite them being two of the most interesting characters). Overall, the setting revolving around one room was a smart decision, and it would have potential for a longer piece with sufficient expansion of the characters.

The Hope that Kills You (Bailey Theatre Company)

★★★★☆

The evening finished with the Bailey Theatre Company’s The Hope That Kills You. Featuring a three-strong cast of Arthur Hamilton, Callum Ryan, and Joshua Brooks, the play covered the life of a famous footballer after being publicly outed. The Hope That Kills You was the most non-naturalistic of the three plays, with it being framed largely around telephone conversations that gradually phase into in-person conversations. This narrative structure was interesting and was integrated seamlessly, as it could have been easy for this to come across as slightly reminiscent of a devised GCSE drama piece.

An introspective performance, reflecting how the swings of public favour on social media takes its toll on mental health

Hamilton as footballer Olli Mackintosh gave an introspective performance, reflecting how the swings of public favour on social media takes its toll on mental health, as well as the pressures of homophobia and hyper-masculinity. Accompanying Hamilton were Ryan as Mackintosh’s partner and Brooks as his agent, with the pair representing the different opinions on how Mackintosh should deal with the situation. The contrast in characters was well demonstrated by Ryan and Brooks.

It was pleasing for the focus being on a character from the north. A region that is underrepresented in theatre, this element of class provided an added layer of complexity to the play. This was coupled with Mackintosh’s own self-esteem, which is evidently seriously affected by social media, an aspect represented by audio readings of social media posts that were sprinkled throughout the play. Overall, Molly Barnes-Tate’s script was strong, and was brought to life well by the small but mighty cast, creative directorial decisions from Oli Ingoe, and the technical strengths that were a common undercurrent for all three performances.

The Hope that Kills You, Oranges and Lemons and Mythweaver were all performed at Mount Oswald Hub on Wednesday 17th February 2026, as part of the Durham Drama Festival.

Image: DDF 2026 via @durhamdramafestival2026 on Instagram; publicity credited to Robyn Bradbury.