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REVIEW | Houses Apart, The Cockpit Theatre - London (Camden Fringe)
- Harry Brogan
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
AD | Tickets gifted in exchange of an honest review
Houses Apart is a charming hour long show perfect for fringe theatre lovers.
Set in the family home, Houses Apart begins with the sudden death of Andrew Bennett, forcing his five estranged adult children back under one roof to deal with the fallout and the reading of the will. What starts as a familiar inheritance story soon becomes far messier—old grudges bubble to the surface, hidden resentments spill out, and the fragile dynamics of family relationships collapse in ways that are both funny and achingly real.
The cast (Faith Foakes, Imogen Peck, Malcolm Webb, Mika Rontti & Viola Rizzardi Penalosa) delivered plenty of energy and enthusiasm, however their characters sometimes felt a bit too similar, and the “shouty chaos” took over at times. Still, the humour was strong throughout, and the round staging created an immersive experience that drew the audience straight into the family’s unravelling drama. The great direction, by Alexandra Rizkallah, managed to keep a solid grip on the pace, balancing the lively disorder with enough control to avoid it tipping into total confusion.
At its heart, Houses Apart explores how the love—or the absence of it—we experience growing up shapes who we become. It’s a blend of sharp wit and gentle emotion, tackling themes of belonging, legacy, and the messy, complicated nature of family ties.
Beneath all the laughs and shouting matches, there’s a genuine emotional core that grounds the chaos and gives the story weight. Houses Apart is a well-crafted story, relatable and thankfully humanly warm.
★★★
Houses apart plays until the 10th of August
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