Theatre Royal, Windsor – until 14 June 2025
Reviewed by Joanna Huggett
4****
We had the pleasure of attending the opening night of ‘Doubting Thomas’ at the Windsor Theatre Royal, a new play written by their recently announced ‘Writers in Residence’ Catherine O’Reilly and Tim Churchill.
The play is about how a family deals with the effects of a court case in which their father Thomas, diagnosed with dementia, is accused of causing the death of a care home worker in which he resides. Having dementia means that Thomas is never interviewed, and hence the family never really knows what really happened, but as we shall discover, some know a great deal more than others.
The entire play is set in the lounge of the family home where the matriarch of the family, Jane Noble played by Felicity Dean, her daughters, Sara played by Claire Marlowe, and Anna played by Eva O’Hara, her grandson Ben, played by Louis Holland, her cousin Matt, played by Ben Nealon meet with the solicitor Karima Somani played by Nikki Patel and on a separate occasion with Thomas’ brother Peter, played by Gary Webster. They discuss the coming court case and later when Peter joins them, they are awaiting the jury decision.
It’s a well written story, well served by the scenery and exemplary acting from all involved, complimented by some well chosen musical segways courtesy of Thomas’ David Bowie record collection.
Despite the simple story line in which we know Thomas is going to be tried for manslaughter and is unable to defend himself due to his dementia condition, it is also clear that we have not been given all the facts. So as the story unfolds, and the family unravels, we can expect some twists and turns right to the very end.
It’s an intriguing and thought provoking watch, go see it before it ends on June 14.