Eureka Day At Nottingham Playhouse Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by Louise Edwards
Eureka Day, billed as a sharp comedy about vaccine politics, is this week on at the Nottingham Playhouse.
Set in a California progressive elementary school the show opens as the parents and teachers committee meet to discuss and debate the latest issues shining a light on how complicated things can get over relatively simple matters.
The stage, by Nottingham based theatre designer Eleanor Field, is set up with the bright colours and walls of books (from the Children’s Book Project) you would expect with the parents sat on infant chairs to make these tough decisions. It has been designed with sustainability in mind and everything is sourced locally reusing what is available in the community.
Then out of the blue there is an outbreak of mumps and the Department of Health are advising all the parents to ensure their children have been vaccinated and the debate about the safety of the MMR jabs raises its head. The committee call an urgent meeting and cracks start to show in the relationships as members flounder between defensiveness, awkwardness, fear and rage as different sides of the argument are debated.
Starring Jonathan Coy as Don, the amiable Headmaster, Eli, a house husband, played by Matt Gavan, Carina, a new parent member, played by Adele James, Kirsty Rider playing Meiko, a parent, and Jenna Russell as Suzanne, one of the original parents from when the school first was formed. It is clear this fee paying private school is keen to be proudly inclusive, proudly communicative, proudly doing all the right things. The cast are incredible with the sharpness to their timing and a believable frailty in the moments when things crack. It’s that duality — funny one moment, painfully honest the next — that elevates the piece.
The decision is made to hold an online discussion and involve the whole school. The stage is taken over by a huge screen and the audience can see the parent’s chat which exposes the well meaning but wildly human and sometimes flawed debate having all of the audience gasping with incredibility and laughing at the same time.
Directed by James Grieve with Elliot Griggs as Lighting Designer, Lee Affen as Sound Designer and Matt Powell as Video Designer the space works very well with the script to show the paradox between the grown ups scrambling in their own worlds as events unravel. As everyone tries to be inclusive and woke they also expose their own insecurities and prejudices with some very tender and emotional moments.
This play was written before the pandemic and does seem a little dated in some aspects but interestingly the world hasn’t changed that much with vaccines still making people feel uncomfortable. It runs for 1 hours and 45 minutes and the pace is quick throughout keeping the audience engaged with the humour and relevance that the play provokes.
Rating: 3.5/5
Tickets cost from £14.50
Eureka Day is at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 15 November 2025, for more information or to book tickets visit https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk or call the box office on 0115 941 9419
Nottingham Playhouse Wellington Circus NG1 5AF