Sometimes, a fitting review of a play seen at a theatre can be the words used to explain the experience to someone later in the evening, after the show.
I found myself saying of Next Lesson, on at Bromley Little Theatre until 24th May, that it is “A pocket rocket, making me more than usually thoughtful.”
Pocket rocket implies a short performance. Actually, I have no idea of how long it was! There was no break for this show, staged in the bar of the theatre, and whatever the time was, it flew by.
The play is a school-based drama presenting fragments of the lives of students and teachers from around the time when one Conservative government (Margaret Thatcher’s) introduced Section 28 legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools, to another, David Cameron’s, allowing gay marriage. The fact that the school and many other references are in Bromley certainly increases our Pride in the achievement.
The cast (a couple of whom are school age themselves) were uniformly excellent, conveying the joy, confusion, fears, and rites of passage involved, without any overt sexuality, giving a heavy topic a light touch. Great credit goes to Mark Davis, Charlotte Lees, Jonathan Roach, Daniela Mirasu, and Rafail Dimitriou and their shifts from role to role, school jacket to teacherly blazer. And of course to writer Chris Woodley, whose story and script lent humour to poignancy.
Another way to sum up a theatre experience is to paraphrase the audience, and the audience loved this. There was also a common view that this play first published in 2019, is now even more a play for today than it was when it was written. And that a bigger stage would suit Next Lesson very well. Perhaps the Director, Allan Osbourne, could port it to one.
Tickets here.
Darren Weale, 20th May 2026
Bromley Buzz 