According to the website thetrainline.com, it takes an average of forty-one minutes to travel from Luton to London St Pancras station by train, with the fastest possible journey being twenty-four minutes. Not that the narrative in the cumbersomely-titled The Chaos That Has Been And Will No Doubt Return is ever concerned about that, concentrating on a fairly close-knit community in this Bedfordshire town, famed for, as the dialogue points out, an airport, and being the birthplace of broadcaster Stacey Dooley and far-right activist Tommy Robinson. There’s even a digression into the hat-making history in Luton – a few factories still remain to this day – and how it apparently contributed to the Luton (or is it Lutonian?) accent.
The narrator (Nathaniel Christian) is a ball of energy, which befits an impressionable teenage character who knows a lot but still has much to learn – and by learning, I don’t mean A-level Chemistry. Let’s just say his encounter with Lakesha (Leanne Henton) at her birthday party resulted in chemistry of a different kind. This isn’t, of course, the first time a character in a play has extolled the positives of their hometown, whatever others may say about it: Luton, for these people, is home. The narrator’s best friend, Lewis (Elan Butler) might well have ambitions to attend university – and not, I gathered from the dialogue, at the University of Bedfordshire’s Luton campus – but he wants to do so with the eventual aim of returning to start his own business and support his hardworking single mother, whose shift patterns mean their home life consists of the proverbial ships passing in the night.
Not even the notorious Brook family, used to getting what they want by force and intimidation, were going to drive them away from Luton. The dialogue is specific enough to include bus routes and road names, as well as the prevailing attitudes and opinions of the narrator’s father, who still seems to revel in the Allied victory of the Second World War, and the contrasting ‘live, laugh, love’ approach of the narrator’s mother. Overall, it is a remarkably engaging story – one where people have no time for things like therapy or career breaks, because they are always and forever working to survive. There isn’t anybody here who knows if ‘nothing beats a Jet2 holiday’ because flying off for a week, even in a town with an airport, isn’t even contemplated.
The show’s critical incident was almost inevitable, demonstrating a much darker side to urban living. Without a scintilla of preachiness or finger-wagging, the production highlights the effects of knife crime on an entire community. Rob Miles’ set is a work of art, a ‘brick wall’ out of which various props and set pieces emerge as needed. The interaction with the audience was very good, and on press night certain patrons in the front rows went above and beyond, rightly resulting in mid-show applause for them. As I noted in a review for a different show I saw recently, after a cast member took it upon themselves to berate the audience for supposedly responding too tepidly, audiences will respond enthusiastically to something that impresses them. The standing ovation for this charming yet visceral production was well deserved.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Two best mates. One final party. A moment that will change everything.
Set in austerity-stricken Luton over one chaotic night, the play follows two best friends as they chase the highs of youth against a backdrop of systemic neglect. Painting a tapestry of violence and joy, it is a raw, real-time collision of friendship and survival. Told with biting wit and lyrical intensity, this production is a powerful exploration of class and identity, with a cracking house party that pulses round the corner.
A gripping new play that captures the raw, heart-pounding moment when everything changes – and childhood slips away.
CAST
Elan Butler – Lewis and others
Nathaniel Christian – Voice
Leanne Henlon – Lakesha and others
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Sam Edmunds
Directors: Sam Edmunds and Vikesh Godhwani
Set Designer: Rob Miles
Sound Designer: Matteo Depares
Movement Director/Intimacy Co-ordinator: Jess Tucker Boyd
Lighting Designer: Sam Edmunds
Technical Stage Manager: Eliott Sheppard
Production Assistant: Kay Dimech
Chalk Line Theatre presents
THE CHAOS THAT HAS BEEN AND WILL NO DOUBT RETURN
Southwark Playhouse Borough, 3 to 27 September 2025
Then England tour continues to 27 November 2025
