At a small, lonely desk at the centre of the stage, Labour MP Craig Kitman slouches, awful Commons whisky in hand, having the worst day of his life (so far). Written by Tim Dawson, The Red Prince brings an entertaining political satire to the audience of Kentish Town’s picturesque Lion & Unicorn Theatre, with actor Benjamin May regaling us with the tale of a once bright, young thing whose rise with Labour’s “loveless landslide” has blown his life apart.
Directed by Susan Nickson, this monodrama is packed with fun mini‑anecdotes, witty one‑liners and centres around a character that is easy to sympathise with yet still heavily flawed. What lets the production down, however, is that as a political satire, it doesn’t seem to have all that much to say. While there are some stinging jabs at the Starmer government and lamentations about the promise that was shown and unfulfilled, much of the satire feels somewhat safe and almost cliché at times. It’s easy to get swept up in how topical it all is, with the script namedropping enough current MPs and describing some real government fumbles, but beyond these nudges and winks to the audience, there just isn’t all that much narrative or satirical meat to the project. The premise itself is a well‑worn offering: a British politician who had hoped to make some change but was ultimately beaten down and emptied out by the realities of their government; it’s just a shame that the script fails to offer anything fresh or insightful to the trope.
The saving grace for The Red Prince is May himself. His performance as Kitman is filled with effective physical comedy, pathos, and enough dynamism to keep the audience onside. As he jumps from thought to increasingly unhinged thought, he perfectly sells the character’s frantic and hollow mindset, appearing at times manic and at others utterly despondent. It’s the exact kind of performance you’d hope to see from a monologue, as May owns the stage, earns every laugh and embodies a once‑idealistic man who is now a shadow of his former self.
The Red Prince is by no means a bad production; it’s funny and entertaining enough to have you leaving The Lion & Unicorn Theatre with a smile on your face. If anything, the issue is that it perhaps gets lost in bouncing from one humorous story to another, touching upon a number of different topics and hints of narrative but never quite settling into one with enough focus or depth to make it the kind of gripping, biting satire it wants to be. While May’s performance is enough to keep you invested, the project as a whole just feels a bit too broad and pedestrian, a bit like the government it critiques; the play just doesn’t quite live up to its promise.
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