Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon in the West End – review

While For Black Boys… enjoys a hearty second run in the West End, occupying the venue for a select number of performances is Rosie Day’s solo show Instructions for a Teenage Armageddon, grounded in her own personal experiences.

Following an (initially unnamed) late millennial protagonist grappling with the consequences of her older sister’s death, Day’s play leaps headlong into the fraught, funny and often frantic world of late teenage-hood: from emotional highs to familial lows. Though perhaps orthodox in its form and staging, themes of sororial love, both constructive and caustic, meld with those of general angst and wellbeing – while Day also delivers a laugh-a-minute with each passing beat.

Since first seeing it in development at the Old Red Lion in 2019, the text has come on leaps and bounds – it now feels more assured of itself, clearer in its convictions. This is not the result of a change in casting (though Charithra Chandran is a mightily strong performer, more on her below), but Day’s writing feels less reluctant to play it safe – jokes are told with a steely frankness, simultaneously endearing while also a tiny bit wince-inducing. It’s that paradox that makes the show a gripping watch that never relents – disarming, disconcerting and delightful in unexpected yet equal sums.

Chandran, mostly known for her stand-out turn in the second season of Bridgerton, handles it beautifully – sparkling with effervescence as her unnamed protagonist finds solace and kinship, before bristling with savagery at the intrusions of her dad’s girlfriend’s daughter, or when wronged at school. Inheriting the role from Day (who performed the show at Southwark Playhouse last year), she owns the Garrick stage, whether sipping from a stanley cup or dancing to Dexys Midnight Runners. Given it’s a solo turn in a West End space, it feels remarkably intimate.

That success can also be laid at the feet of director Georgie Staight, scaling up her production at Southwark and allowing Chandran to never feel adrift or unmoored. She’s helped no end by a panoply of projected performers who pop up to take on roles – breaking up the dialogue and adding some visual novelty to proceedings.

With book and TV plans afoot for Day’s tale, it doesn’t feel as though Armageddon is anywhere near its conclusion – but this will certainly be a strong next step on its warpath.