Isolated Incident – Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington (Camden Fringe)

Writer & Director: Hayley-Rose

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Captivating Dialogue“

4 / 5

It’s the morning after Oonagh’s birthday party – everyone is tired, hungover and contemplating the night before. But everyone has different recollections about what really happened that night, so how on earth are they all going to move forward?

Oonagh (Kara Lynch) always liked Adam (Johnny Allison), their easy banter and gentle flirtation was enjoyable, thankfully so due to being in such a small group stuck working for months at an Antarctic research facility. Their colleague Paz (Kiran Raywilliams) gets along well with both of them, which is why the events of her birthday are all the more conflicting for him to remain neutral. Oonagh only wanted a kiss, certain she told him to stop before it got any further. Adam thought he was having a mutually agreed upon hook up with a colleague, shocked and appalled when she confronts him with a rape accusation the next morning. He refuses to believe she didn’t want to have sex, but she’s adamant he crossed a line, and the more she re-hashes the memories, the more traumatised she becomes.

Hayley-Rose’s conflict ridden script is brilliantly intriguing. Each of the three characters are written well, and the easy introduction and humorous conversations before the early, impactful reveal are light-hearted and believable. The focus of the show is on the fall out of the events, how to face them, and the grey areas coming from the ‘he said / she said’ memories. By not showing anything to do with the night of the birthday, or ever definitively confirming whose recollection was accurate (though it skews towards Oonagh overall), the audience are left to make their own judgement, and mentally tackle how they themselves would deal with such an intense event in such close, isolated quarters.

Initially, due to the friendly, jokey conversation between the two, Oonagh’s accusation is a shocking surprise, with the audience as taken aback as Adam to her dismissive approach to what had happened even citing “it’s not a big deal”. But the introduction of Una (Clara Doherty) slowly changes Oonagh’s intensity – mirroring how trauma realises, morphs and shifts over time. Una forces Oonagh to go back to the morning after, countless times – encouraging her to deal with it differently, one time watching her jump immediately into rage, then sympathising with him the next, as she tries her best to heal and move on. Paz’s role as the mediator is also an integral character, showing someone stuck in between two friendships, uncomfortable about how to resolve what has happened.

It’s a captivating show, that runs about 20 minutes shorter than the advertised 80 minute runtime, which does add to the confusion when the show abruptly ends and there isn’t a curtain call from the cast! The addition of breaking the fourth wall at the end and having an audience member put on the spot to weigh in with her opinion doesn’t fit with the rest of the show, and could be a little too personal depending on who is picked.

That aside, the well-formed characters, layered storyline and interesting dialogue make for an enjoyable show, with the talented cast doing a fantastic job of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

Runs until 3rd August 2025