In some ways, it feels that the Chickenshed shows have grown up as my kids have. Bear in mind that I first visited the Shed with a 4-year-old Eva to watch a show about monkeys having a Sports Day and here I am in 2025, taking a nearly-16-year-old Reuben to review a show about the most infamous cult in modern history. It’s hard to know whether subject matter as sensitive as this will be handled well but don’t worry…you’re in safe hands at Chickenshed. The shows we’ve seen recently, such as “Love From Carmen” , have certainly taken a darker turn but there’s normally been a lighter side as well. This seemed like it would be the darkest show yet.
It’s been a bit of a theme this week. I went to see “Opus” on Wednesday, not really knowing much about it but turns out that was about a cult as well. I imagine I’m going to be having some disturbing dreams this weekend. It’s all a bit close to home, given that so many people from my childhood church got sucked into a cult in Nigeria and during the interval I tried to explain to Reuben the thin line between evangelical Christianity and a cult….but I failed. I’ll unpack that a little more later.
We’ve seen many impactful shows at Chickenshed but this was on another level. It was an immersive experience, with the traverse seating meaning that the audience are extremely close to the performers. There are a few things I don’t want to tell you because of spoilers – the impact of some of the moments would be diminished if you knew what to expect and those moments really are powerful.
So what can I tell you? It’s a 2 hour show, with a 20 minute interval, but the time flies by. The scenes in Jonestown, where the story unfolds, are intercut with flash forwards to the investigators surveying the post-massacre scene and survivors 20 years on, telling their story. There are 200 performers, which is around a quarter of the numbers that died in the actual Jonestown, but it certainly gives you a sense of the scale of the tragedy and the lives that existed before 1978. Having the performers so close up makes it all seem very real, along with the steam of the jungle and the sound of buzzing flies. It was so immersive that the audience didn’t seem sure where the interval break was or when the show had ended….there was a stunned silence at both points, followed by heartfelt applause. Reuben and I spent the whole interval talking about what we’d seen so far and I think he’s still mulling it over this morning. Plenty to think about for both his drama GCSE course and the Philosophy A Level he’s planning to start next year….
On that note, I should emphasise the age rating here, which is 13+ and includes a lot of content warnings. I chose Reuben as my companion for this one as Eva’s not quite 13 and still very sensitive. I don’t think she would have coped with it whereas Roo could have a bit more detachment…although detachment is hard when it feels like you’re almost part of the action.
Although there are lighter moments in the play, this is a tragedy from start to finish. Knowing that it was all real and that everyone who’s singing and dancing will soon die means you can never quite relax, even in the more uplifting moments. This is no ordinary production but it’s a powerful one and very timely. The sequence that ends the first half, about the inequality and unrest of 1970s America, seems like it could be describing the events of today. The Jonestown residents may have seemed naive but they were escaping a life back home that they saw no hope in.
Copyright Chickenshed
It’s almost surreal to see the Chickenshed regulars tackling such dark material. Ashley Driver is one of the first to speak in this show and he usually takes on the more comedic roles but here was tasked with the post-massacre clean up, which is a grim concept idea. I wasn’t surprised to see Jonny Morton as Jim Jones- he’s taken the villain role in the last few shows we’ve seen here and takes on the difficult role of cult leader here. He’s charismatic but also unhinged, which is a hard balance to pull off. Sarah Driver is sweetly sinister as his wife Marceline. I don’t know if I’ve seen Anna Listo-Rees and Alex Brennan in lead roles before but here they play Jessie and Vernon, a young couple pulled apart by the spiralling events in Jonestown. As I mentioned before, there is a cast of hundreds and this is used to great effect in the crowd scenes as well as powerfully portraying the massacre itself.
There are songs throughout, most notably in the “choir” scene at the start of the second half. But this is no lighthearted musical. The songs, like “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”, are ones that were genuinely sung at Jonestown and although the choir are singing joyfully, it is clear that they are praising something dark and deadly. I mentioned earlier how being a Christian makes this an uncomfortable watch and I must admit I didn’t realise what a Christian-type culture Jonestown had. I’ve done some reading since last night and Jim Jones was a full-on Christian minister before he started his own cult. In the play, he preaches in a pseudo-Christian way although he himself takes the role of God. Having seen friends swept up in something similar, it really was striking how easily this could happen. Evangelical Christian worship encourages you to lose yourself in the music and have a corporate experience but this play shows just what happens if you let yourself go too much. It’s another way in which this serves as a very important warning, to both Christians and idealists. Escaping the world we live in is rarely the answer, no matter how difficult that world seems.
As I said, it’s a play that really does make you think. And being an uncomfortable watch is by no means a bad thing….we need to be made uncomfortable sometimes in order to remember not to be won over by charming rhetoric and promises. The world isn’t perfect by any means but anyone who thinks they can single handedly change it is probably not to be trusted.
So a challenging production but a vital one. Reuben said he enjoyed it, even if he found it disturbing and I would say the same. A play that’s named after someone’s view of dead bodies is never going to be a fluffy romp but this was so powerful that I’d encourage you to go along and see it while you can. Everything I’ve heard about Jonestown over the years has never brought it to life in the way that this play did…the 900 who died were real people with relationships and talents and it is so visceral seeing it up close. The choir were so close to our seats that I could feel the movement of air as they danced and it was almost like the ghosts of Jonestown had come back to show us that they were not just corpses. It was so moving that the audience were visibly shaken at the end. But, as I keep saying, this is an important piece of art. You should take the opportunity to see it when you can but just remember, it’s not for children. A thoughtful teen will be fine but for your tots, best to stick to the shows about bunnies and things.
“The Washing Line” is on until 5th April. Click here for tickets and more info.
Disclaimer: I received free tickets in exchange for a review. All opinions remain honest and my own
