One thing is certain: The Last Incel is going to spark some serious conversation during its two-week run at the Pleasance Theatre, Islington. After a successful debut at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dublin-based writer and director Jamie Sykes now invites London audiences to take an unflinching look into the dark online world of the ‘incel’.
‘Incels’ belong to an online community of involuntarily celibate men, who blame “[…] the rise of feminism and increased sexual promiscuity/superficiality among women” for their “[inability] to find partners”. This is helpfully explained in a glossary placed on each table in the intimate theatre.
Through a combination of minimalist props, music and physical theatre, the audience is lured into the nihilistic backwaters of an incel group chat, whose worldview is eventually challenged by the presence of a woman entering their space.
Sykes doesn’t shy away from making his characters repugnant. Jackson Ryan stands out for his relentless depiction of the hate-fuelled ‘Crusher’, whose frothing resentment towards women is deeply disturbing.
While the ideologies spouted by Crusher and his friends ‘Ghost’ and ‘Einstain’ may seem controversial purely for shock value, none of it is out of place in real-life incel culture. One of the smartest elements in The Last Incel is how it points out the absurdity of the incel worldview by satirising it through flamboyant, unexpected dance breaks. Equally, the stark mentions of the 2023 Plymouth murderer and incel serial killer Elliot Rodger remind the audience not to trivialise the rise of incel culture, either.
It is through Fiachra Corkery’s nuanced portrayal of ‘Cuckboy’ that the play’s layers of vulnerability are revealed. Although we know, by virtue of Cuckboy’s presence in the group chat, that he subscribes to the incel ideology, Corkery’s character still manages to endear himself to the audience—and to a real-life woman, Margaret.
When the bold and witty Margaret, played by Justine Stafford, enters Cuckboy’s life, she holds a mirror up to the incels’ insecurities. While this leads to some interesting character development for the incels, it leaves little room for any meaningful exploration of Margaret. Ironically, this leads the show towards a similar trap as the media that created the incel mentality, where female characters exist so male characters can grow. Nevertheless, Margaret still shines thanks to Stafford’s comedic timing and charm.
Overall, The Last Incel feels like an evening spent scrolling through a bleak corner of the Internet. From the grotesquely hilarious scenes of dry humping to the dire moments where the desperate incels lock eyes with the audience, The Last Incel will make audience members squirm and want to look away. The problem is, does looking away allow the incel ideology to thrive?
Listings and ticket information can be found here.
