★★★☆☆
There’s something really uncomfortable about The Wasp at Southwark Playhouse Borough and I mean that as a compliment.
Written by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, this twisting psychological thriller keeps you guessing for most of its 1 hour 40 minute runtime. It starts off fairly simple: two women who haven’t seen each other since school meet for tea and awkward conversation. Heather appears to have the perfect life successful career, husband, beautiful home while Carla is struggling financially and living hand to mouth. But once Heather places a bag of cash on the table alongside a shocking proposition, the entire play shifts gear.
What I liked most about this production was how intimate it felt. Because it’s a two-hander, there’s nowhere to hide. Every pause, every look and every tiny shift in tone matters. The smaller space at Southwark Playhouse worked really well for this because it made the tension feel claustrophobic in the best way possible.
That said, I do think where you sit matters. I was very aware that if you weren’t facing forward, you’d probably miss certain facial expressions and reactions, which are such a huge part of the play’s tension.
The first half did take a while to get going for me. I understood that it was building atmosphere and slowly revealing information, but at times it felt too slow and repetitive. Certain scenes are replayed from different perspectives, which is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure it fully worked dramatically. Instead of increasing momentum, it occasionally stopped the tension from properly building.
But then the second half arrives and that’s where the production becomes brilliant.
The tension completely tightens. The emotional reveals hit harder. Every conversation suddenly feels dangerous. It’s one of those plays where you start mentally reassessing everything you’ve already watched.
Performance-wise, Serin Ibrahim was excellent throughout as Carla, keeping the character grounded and emotionally believable even during the play’s darker turns. For me, Cassandra Hercules as Heather absolutely owned the second half. Her performance became increasingly intense and layered, and she managed to make Heather both unsettling and strangely sympathetic at the same time.
One thing I’m still undecided on is the title itself. The meaning behind The Wasp is explained briefly during the play, but I’m still not entirely convinced it landed fully for me. Maybe that’s intentional. Maybe I just need to think about it more.
Overall, The Wasp is clever, tense and powered by two very strong performances. I just think the first half needs tightening because the pacing occasionally drags before the story fully clicks into place. Still, once it gets there, the second half delivers enough tension and twists to make it worth sticking with even if it never quite reaches the heights it feels capable of.