Radiant Boy review: a play that shines bright and leaves a shadow behind
3 June 2025, 16:48 | Updated: 3 June 2025, 16:49
The mark of a good play? It makes you care. Not just watch.
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Radiant Boy at the Southwark Playhouse pulls you in, sits you down and keeps its grip on you long after the lights go up.
I thought I knew what I was in for. From the title alone, I expected something in the style of It’s a Sin – tender, tragic, perhaps a little nostalgic. Instead, I found myself in the grip of something darker, stranger, and far more unsettling. This is a story about grief, identity, and – most unexpectedly – exorcism. And it’s absolutely brilliant.
The play is performed in the round, bringing every twitch, tear and silence right to your doorstep.
With a small cast and minimal staging, there’s nowhere to hide – and no need to.
Each performer carries their weight, but it’s the mother-son relationship at the heart of the piece that really lands. Their connection is messy, difficult, and painfully real.
Then there’s the priest. He starts off with a touch of the Fleabag “hot priest” energy – warm, charming, even funny. But there’s a gradual unpeeling, a moral corrosion, and by the end, he’s something else entirely. That shift is subtle but chilling.
The ending was ambiguous, which felt slightly unsatisfying - it left me asking “what next?” After such an emotionally charged build-up, I wanted a little more resolution.
Still, there’s no denying it: this is a superb piece of new writing, staged with confidence and performed with real heart. London theatre doesn’t need to shout to be heard – sometimes it whispers, then lingers.
Radiant Boy shines bright – and leaves a shadow behind.
Radiant Boy runs at the Southwark Playhouse until 14th June.