“You have to use your imagination,” Niall Ashdown wryly smiles at the audience, who have clocked very quickly that there aren’t five pianos on stage, despite the show’s title. Indeed, having used one’s imagination, there may or may not have been five pianos in the narrative – personally, I think there were far more, given that he spent time in the music department whilst at university, despite being enrolled on an English and Theatre Studies degree. There was also a piano shop in Lewisham in the story. But being too fixated on numbers would miss some wider points that this show makes in a longitudinal account of Niall’s life to date.
Known for his improvisation, he made several appearances on Channel 4’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? (for readers old enough to remember), though the only mention of improv in this play was about his teaching it. There was a quiet, almost subdued style of delivery in what was a largely reflective look as far back as his childhood. I don’t believe ‘school days are the best days’ and Niall’s recollections of his own formative years do nothing but fortify that opinion.
As many life stories brought to the stage, grief and bereavement feature, but this one does not stay in the realm of trauma for very long. For Niall, at least, it truly is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved in the first place. It’s a fairly sparse set, with a chair stage left and a keyboard stage right (it could be argued there are no pianos in Five Pianos), so the play relies on the art of storytelling, through spoken word, song and poetry.
It was highly engrossing stuff. But there’s no escaping that some of the most poignant moments in Niall’s story took place with no piano in sight. I suppose it demonstrates that he can survive without one for a while, and nonetheless, it is the instrument he comes back to, a safe space for catharsis and healing. A thoughtful and candid piece of theatre.
Review by Chris Omaweng
“She is scarred and scraped and dotted with pools of candle-wax… when you sit in front of her it’s like being held.”
When Niall was nine years old he took his first, and as it turned out, last piano exam. And vowed never to play the piano again.
Since that day, there’s always been a piano somewhere that has drawn him back. This new production explores, celebrates and commemorates this enduring love affair, and its place at the heart of all the clarity and confusion that life has thrown at him – and that life throws at all of us.
Featuring original songs, Five Pianos is a funny, intimate and honest story of piano as lover, as liability, as lifesaver.
Written and performed by Niall Ashdown
Lighting by Colin Grenfell
FIVE PIANOS
Jack Studio Theatre
5 to 7 February 2026
