Review: Poison

Hey readers!
It's time for my review of Poison.
I was doing some research on shows that were playing locally to me and discovered that a new play named "Poison" was making its UK premiere at the Orange Tree Theatre, which intrigued me.

Poison is a two-person play, which for this production is performed by Claire Price and Zubin Varla. Both of these actors gave an emotionally charged and thoroughly realistic performance. The playwright of Poison, Lot Vekemans, seeks for the characters to gain sympathy from the audience, and in order to do this a lot is needed from the actors performing the piece. They must be convincing, realistic and also relatable. Luckily though, Claire Price and Zubin Varla pull this off successfully. Claire Price conveyed all of the character's thoughts and feelings tremendously well to the audience, helping us to truly understand what was going on in the character's mind. Claire came across as being very natural on the stage, which also assisted in making her character understandable and therefore, relatable. Throughout the play, Zubin Varla's character shows an extremely wide ranger of emotions, including anger, hope, sadness, despair and even a glimmer of happiness. Zubin Varla shows every emotion very clearly which, like his co-star, helps to make his character reliable.

The storyline of Poison is a real eye-opener. Poison follows a former married couple meeting up for the first time after their child died 9 years earlier. Shortly after their son's death, the husband walked out on his wife, leaving her alone with her grief. She has called to meet with him 9 years later and, as I'm sure you can imagine, has a lot of questions. With an issue such as having a young child die, it can sometimes be difficult to truly put your feet in a parents shoes if it is not something you have experienced. However, Poison is written in a way to help audiences begin to understand what type of feelings and emotions a parent may feel if their child has died and it is very helpful in making people become empathetic. Dealing with these issues when writing about them can be hard, but playwright Lot Vekemans does a terrific job. I felt very touched by the story of Poison and found it to be truly and utterly heartbreaking.

The Orange Tree Theatre is the perfect venue for Poison. Being in such an intimate theatre really heightens the intensity of Poison,the play and helps to make it feel more realistic. It's almost as if you are a ghost in the room with the two characters. I am not sure if the play would have had the same effect on me, had it been in a larger venue.


Poison does an excellent job in raising awareness of this important issue and I applaud it for that. It was a roller-coaster of emotions and I loved the play!

The featured star of Poison is, drum roll please... CLAIRE PRICE!

This was a really difficult decision, as Claire and Zubin were practically equal. They each showed us a wide range of talents and both gave outstanding performances. However, I have chosen to give to Claire as this performance seemed really special. There was a large amount of depth to it and her emotions were crystal clear.

Now for my final verdict on Poison. I give Poison...

Poison isn't quite up there with my 4 star ratings, but it was still a play that I really admired. Poison is playing until the 2nd of December, so if you live near the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond make sure to stop by and see Poison!

Think it should have got a higher rating? Agree with my rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-The Reviewer