The Unbelievers
Captioned performance: 8th November 2025 at 1.30pm
Chilled performance: 29th November 2025 at 1.30pm
Audio described performance: 15th November 2025 at 1.30pm (touch tour 12 noon)
The effect on a mother after her son disappears.
Nicola Walker stars in Nick Payne’s play. Marianne Elliott directs.
(seen at the afternoon performance on 23rd October 2025)
Immaculately staged, directed and performed.
Bunny Christie gives us a municipal waiting room, from which characters emerge into the home of Miriam (Nicola Walker), whose 15-year-old son Oscar went missing on the way home from school.
Marianne Elliott ensures that every character acts with deliberation, and that the flow of scenes is as smooth as author Nick Payne’s previous hit “Constellations.”
The structure is similar. Playing with time we jump at random between initial discovery, sightings years later, memorial service plans, moving on with lives.
Problem is, this time it all feels overly effortful. The monkey had no idea the timescale was 7 years until it read the programme afterwards. And it is a little odd that they all wore exactly the same clothes in all that time.
SPOILER ALERT: There is no grand payoff at the end. We never find out what happened to Oscar SPOILER ENDS and nor do we gain deeper insight into the slow crumbling of hope. The cuts mean we see lives destroyed, but miss the journey which should have engaged us with the characters.
Still, there is plenty to enjoy in the performances. Walker makes her snap under the strain credible despite the faulty script structure.
We enjoy the family dynamic. Ex-husband David (Paul Higgins) finding faith, other Ex-husband Karl (Martin Marquez) using his faith to vacillate on the rules of the church as it relates to coping mechanisms.
Daughters Margaret and Nancy (Ella Lily Hyland and Alby Baldwin) as contrasting young women with radically different ideas on dealing with the situation.
Strong work too from Jaz Singh Deol and Isabel Adomakoh Young as a strange pair of psychic researchers, and Lucy Thackeray doing double turn as police officer and “Abigail’s Party” girlfriend.
If only they had a more lucid storyline to work with, something with a through-line of dramatic tension which builds towards more than a family meal.
This is about faith and belief, contradicting its title, and Payne wants clearly to explore the fact that some stresses will make believers of us all. There is a contrasting piece for him to write, opening out properly these vivid characters.
Until then, this is simple proof that sometimes a perfect production cannot hide writing flaws.
A highly charged, powerful and emotional play. Rips through one's emotions with a few laughs here and there. Fantastic set where the wings are at the back and set up as a waiting room so you can see the actors waiting to come on. It's a great metaphor for the waiting that's taking place in the play. The lighting is excellent.
A very good cast, there is not one single dud performance and Nicola Walker is outstanding.
If live theatre is all about sitting in a dark room with a few hundred strangers crying at the story that unfolds in front of you then they have got this down to perfection.
5 stars
Taljaard
The monkey advises checking performance times on your tickets and that performances are happening as scheduled, before travelling.
| Run Time: | Runs 1 hour 45 minutes with no interval |
| Monday: | 7.30pm |
| Tuesday: | 7.30pm |
| Wednesday: | 7.30pm |
| Thursday: | 2.30pm, 7.30pm |
| Friday: | 7.30pm |
| Saturday: | 1.30pm, 6.30pm |
| Sunday: | X |
Venue Box Office & Current Prices
020 7565 5000Venue box office details and show price charts are available on the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs page.
Availability: -
Price: -
Notes: If the theatre is sold out, standing places are available at 10p per ticket on the day of performance. If a show is sold out in advance, a waiting list is opened. Join it by phone on 020 7565 5000 and the box office will contact you if tickets become available. Returned tickets on the day are sold first-come, first-served to anyone waiting at the box office.
Address: Sloane Square, Chelsea, SW1W 8AS
Box Office: 020 7565 5000
More details: Seats to buy or avoid at this venue plus travel information and other details can be found on the Royal Court Theatre Downstairs page
