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Comedy Plays

Esme Waters’ Fringe Feb Double-Bill at Playhouse East: Living with an Alien & Mr Thrushby’s Adventure

11th February 2026 /Posted byRobert Cope / 34 / 0

Playhouse East’s inaugural Fringe Feb offered a welcome chance to revisit two Esme Waters plays, Living with an Alien and Mr Thrushby’s Adventure, presented as a single evening double-bill. Both pieces have had recent showings elsewhere, and Theatre Life has already covered them individually. This Fringe Feb pairing, though, was more than a simple re-run: a complete cast change for Living with an Alien and a largely refreshed line-up for Mr Thrushby’s Adventure gave both plays a noticeably different texture, rhythm, and colour. The result felt like a genuine “second look” rather than a repeat.

For earlier coverage, you can read the original TheatreLife reviews here:

  • https://theatrelife.co.uk/living-with-an-alien-by-esme-waters/
  • https://theatrelife.co.uk/mr-thrushbys-adventure-by-esme-waters/

Waters also deserves credit here beyond authorship. Producing a double-bill with tight turnaround, multiple moving parts, and a full company of actors is a genuine undertaking, and this evening had that tell-tale feel of something shepherded with care: clear, coherent, and properly audience-facing. Directed by Rafael Solimeno-Harris, the Fringe Feb versions were delivered in a staged-reading format, yet they consistently played “bigger” than that label suggests. The ensemble approach and confident character work kept the room theatrically alive, and Solimeno-Harris’ choice of music was an understated asset across the evening: used with taste, it helped reset the audience’s emotional ears between scenes, and it neatly underlined the tonal pivots, especially where Waters’ writing shifts from comedy into something sharper-edged.

Another pleasure across the night was vocal precision. There were a few performances where the received pronunciation was so convincing I genuinely assumed that was simply how the actors spoke day-to-day, which I mean as a real compliment. That kind of vocal discipline can easily feel “put on” in lesser hands. Here, it felt inhabited.

Living with an Alien

With a completely new cast, Living with an Alien arrived with fresh energy and a different set of emphases, while still keeping the piece’s central satisfactions: the interplay of personalities, the gradual tightening of the situation, and Waters’ knack for landing comedy without losing the human stakes underneath it.

Gwithian Evans was very well cast as Michael. He made the character readable and grounded, which matters in a play where the temperature can shift quickly from the everyday into something stranger. The performance had a steadiness that kept the story clean, and it gave the ensemble space to bring their own eccentric colours without the whole thing tipping into noise.

Lotte Pearl’s Lara was particularly watchable. She brought a steely quality underneath the surface, that sense of someone keeping herself together while clocking everything in the room. It gave the character weight and made the sharper moments land.

Sasha McCabe, as Alisha, was bright and expressive and shone in her role, bringing lift and presence whenever she entered. Steevan Glover’s Frederick added a crispness of delivery and a sense of comic shape, while still feeling connected to the play’s wider rhythm rather than stepping outside it.

Cristian Solimeno, as Adrian, was a real pleasure to watch. He felt absolutely right for the role, and he gave it a working-class edge in the voice that helped locate the character instantly, without any strain. His control of energy was one of the quiet strengths of the evening: he knows exactly how to pitch a line so it lands without being pushed.

Andrew Williams, as Graham, also stood out strongly. He had real stage presence, and his crisp RP with an eccentric edge felt completely natural, adding a lot to the character. This was one of those performances where the voice and the persona arrive together, fully formed, and you stop thinking about “acting choices” and simply accept that this is who the person is.

Jonathan Hansler, as Simon, rounded out the ensemble with authority and clarity. Across the night, he also gave the sense of a performer who understands the room, how to hold it, how to place a line so it travels.

Mr Thrushby’s Adventure

If Living with an Alien benefited from the novelty of a full reset, Mr Thrushby’s Adventure had the pleasure of continuity and development, while still feeling newly coloured by the refreshed line-up. This is a play that thrives on a gallery of quirks, and the Fringe Feb version leaned into that with conviction.

Gwithian Evans returned as the lead, this time as Sam (the young rogue), and he felt completely right for the role. I also had the sense he’s developed the Sam role since Windsor and came across as more charismatic this time. That extra ease in the performance suits the piece, because it allows the character’s charm to do the work rather than any visible effort.

Andrew Williams again stood out, this time as Colonel Buckingham-Wentworth, shifting into a different authority while keeping the same comic control. Steevan Glover as Dr Rothington provided smart support throughout, and one of the funniest shared physical beats of the evening came from the way Glover and Williams played off each other. There was a particular moment where the two of them swivelled their heads to look around in sync, turning in near-perfect unison, and it landed brilliantly. It wasn’t “general good physicality”, it was a specific, cleanly-timed, mutual beat, the kind that tells you the company is listening closely to each other.

Tesni Richards brought a flirtatious energy to Felicity, played very differently this time, and it brought out new shades in the scenes. It’s the sort of adjustment that subtly rebalances relationships on stage, and it was genuinely enjoyable seeing the character reframed through a new performance lens.

Lotte Pearl shifted gears completely as Mrs Rowley and was a lot of fun to watch, demonstrating that pleasing ability to move between worlds across the double-bill without leaving residue from the previous role.

Christian Solimeno’s return, now as Dunford, was another highlight for anyone who enjoys watching an actor properly transform between pieces. It was fun seeing how differently he pitched the energy. He also altered the vocal world: a working-class edge in Alien, then a more RP-leaning voice here, which helped the character sit differently in the hierarchy of the story.

Jonathan Hansler, now as Mr Thrushby, held the centre of the play with a beautifully judged mix of authority, charm, and comic detail. He made the eccentricity feel earned, rooted in a recognisable human temperament, so the character stayed believable even as the situations heighten. His RP was spot-on and carried with ease, and his stage presence had the same magnetic certainty that lifts an ensemble scene by scene. In a farce like this, that grounding matters, and Hansler provided it.

Closing thoughts

What made this Fringe Feb double-bill feel worthwhile, even for anyone who has encountered these plays before, was exactly the thing that theatre can do better than any other form: the same words, re-embodied, becoming a different experience. The cast changes and refreshed line-up didn’t dilute the plays. They revealed them from new angles. Add in Waters’ work not only as playwright but as producer bringing the whole evening into being, and Solimeno-Harris’ steady directorial hand across both pieces, and the result was a genuinely satisfying night of character-led storytelling.

Playwright - Esme Waters
Playwright - Esme Waters

Cast & Creatives

  • Showing - Showing - 11th Feb 2026 - Festival / Venue Playhouse East: Fringe Feb (Double-Bill)
  • Playhouse East, 258 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DG
    https://www.playhouseeast.com/playhouseeast
  • Writer & Producer: Esme Waters
  • Director: Rafael Solimeno-Harris
  • Photography: Robert Cope
  • Living with an Alien Cast:

Gwithian Evans as Michael
Lotte Pearl as Lara
Steevan Glover as Frederick
Andrew Williams as Graham
Sasha McCabe as Alisha
Jonathan Hansler as Simon
Cristian Solimeno as Adrian

  • Mr Thrushby’s Adventure Cast:
Jonathan Hansler as Mr Thrushby
Gwithian Evans as Sam
Tesni Richards as Felicity
Cristian Solimeno as Adam Dunford
Andrew Williams as Colonel Buckingham-Wentworth
Steevan Glover as Dr Rothington
Lotte Pearl as Mrs Rowley
A double-bill worth revisiting
4.5

Summary

Playhouse East’s Fringe Feb pairing of Living with an Alien and Mr Thrushby’s Adventure benefits from refreshed casting, turning familiar scripts into a newly paced, character-led evening with precise vocal work and a steady directorial hand.

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About author

Robert Cope

About Author

Robert Cope

Meet Robert. With roots in Uganda and England, and childhood memories from Kenya, he offers a distinctive voice in the theatre world. As a noted critic in London, his reviews on 'Theatre Life' echo his deep connection to the arts and his active role in the Clerkenwell community. Offstage, Robert champions community causes, enjoys the strategy of backgammon, the energy of squash, and the serenity of British countryside hikes. Join him in exploring the theatrical scene through his informed and unique perspective.

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