Review: Theatre for One (Barbican)

This outstanding collection of six five-minute-long plays are each performed for just one audience member at a time as part of Barbican's Scene Change season.

Photo: Danny Bright

As part of Barbican's Scene Change season, Landmark Productions and Octopus Theatricals' Theatre for One has arrived in the UK for the first time. Taking over a space within the lobby of the Barbican Centre, this free-to-attend experience does exactly what it says on the tin, offering up a five-minute-long play for one audience member at a time on a first-come, first-served basis.

Precisely which of the six pieces each audience member will see remains a mystery until the dividing wall inside the custom-built, peep show-style booth slides open, revealing the performer on the other side. Those who want to see more than one performance must rejoin the queue and wait their turn before being admitted again, making an investment of time the only payment required to see the work.

For this Barbican run, the one-act shows on offer have been penned by some of Ireland's biggest playwrights, including Enda Walsh, Mark O’Rowe, Joy Nesbitt, Marina Carr, Katie Holly and Louise O’Neill. Each differs wildly from the other and features everything from once-scorned lovers and insecure onlookers to otherworldly entities and desperate magicians.

For our visit, we were lucky enough to experience O'Rowe's The Spur, Walsh's Cave and Nesbitt's Dear Rosa in quick succession (a privilege that's not lost on us), but to see just one of these three would more than justify the potential wait times, despite each only being a few minutes long.

In O'Rowe's The Spur, Derbhle Crotty plays a woman who recounts an unexpected encounter in a shopping centre that unexpectedly provided her with some much-needed closure. Walsh's Cave gives a voice to a creature used to lurking in the darkness through Art Campion, and Nesbitt's Dear Rosa casts the audience member as Rosa Parks while Tishé Fatunbi's nameless character grapples to come to terms with their racial identity through a number of stark confessionals.

Anyone who's been lucky enough to be selected for a one-on-one during one of Punchdrunk's masked shows or has attended immersive shows such as The Manikins: a work in progress, Undersigned or Creature will already be aware of just how powerful and intense being the sole focus of a performer's attention can be.

Outside of the awareness that the performance only exists in that very moment for your benefit, the intensity of the moment is amplified by its intimacy, with the performer looking you directly in the eye mere feet away throughout. Without doing anything but watching on, you find yourself silently taking on the role of both a confidante and companion as the person opposite shares a piece of themselves with you. Every reaction, whether it be a laugh or nod or change in expression as you watch on, is seen and silently acknowledged by the performer, leaving you with nowhere to hide.

Regardless of which play you see when you step inside the booth, you’ll walk away from Theatre for One having witnessed something that existed only for you. It's an intense and moving experience that distils theatre down to its essentials: a performer, an audience member, and a moment that lingers with you long after the door opens again.

★★★★★

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Theatre for One runs at the Barbican Level G Hub Space until 22nd March 2026. The event is free to attend, with performers daily (excluding 16th March) between 12pm-3pm, and 5pm-8pm. For more information, visit barbican.org.uk