Review: EVERY GREAT MAN, The Cockpit

Photo credit: Dexter Robinson

Rachel McKay’s Every Great Man is a bold and brave love letter to enduring female friendship and girlhood. Alex is supposed to be marrying Dylan. Except she’s not sure she can go through with it. She’s not sure that she wants to be yet another ‘great woman’ living in the shadow of a ‘great man’. So, she’s talking it over with maid-of-honour (and best friend) Grace, who has prepared for this scenario with an emergency kit of Greggs yum-yums and tinned daiquiris.

Staged in The Cockpit’s simple black box theatre and with props essentially limited to a bouquet and the four-pack of yum-yums, all focus is on the friends as they talk, fret and reminisce. We see a series of vignettes from Alex (played by McKay) and Grace’s pasts, from meeting at primary school, through their teenage years and into early womanhood.

As children, the pair bond over a comical misunderstanding of the word ‘c*nt’ and as we fast-forward to their friendship as teenagers, it is Grace (Lauren Lewis) who is especially compelling. She possesses such a precise acknowledgment of her own femininity aged just 14 and holds a bleakly acute awareness that men, much older men, desire her and her youth. They have something men want but cannot have. It is power, she tells Alex earnestly.

McKay’s book is so sharp and doesn’t hold back in these revealing moments of friendship. However, her writing flips deftly between drama and comedy, leaving the audience in hysterics as Grace tells Alex, with the most sincere expression upon her face, that she is virtually duty-bound to give sexual favours to her boyfriend because he says that ‘blue balls’ is a condition “ten times more painful than childbirth” and can even be fatal.

Alex is more guarded and complex. We get to know her through little looks and glances or mumbled comments about wanting to watch Doctor Who rather than take part in Grace’s teenage game of Truth or Drink. But it is a flashback to Alex losing her mum that is so insightful. She attempts to put a brave face on it by cracking jokes but ultimately breaks down in her best friend’s arms.

The relationship is so convincing and as adults sipping pink gin in the church’s bridal suite, we see Grace delivering her would-be maid-of-honour speech - with references to Alex’s childhood ambitions to work in Greggs - as well as a very funny and sweet moment paying homage to Mamma Mia! while Grace fixes her best friend’s hair.

Groom-to-be Dylan (Sam Warren) is introduced later on and we get to see how he and Alex first met at school. It is exceptionally written, with the perfect balance of awkward and tender. McKay’s choice not to portray Dylan as bad or controlling pays off as we see that the adult Dylan, while still cocky and a bit self-absorbed, is actually quite charming, affable and genuinely loves Alex.

The scene with all three actors on stage is electric. Dylan makes sniping little asides about Grace; Grace tells Dylan to f*ck off. The tension is palpable and captivating to watch in the knowledge that, despite their resentment of one another, they are bound by their love for Alex. McKay’s naturalistic dialogue serves the piece brilliantly and never comes off as melodrama but simply the culmination of years of things left unsaid.

In future runs, it would be good to see a more dynamic approach to sound design. The tick-tock between scenes is a little overdone and more could be made of the transitions, perhaps with music linking back to the characters’ youths. Also, perhaps costume changes in the flashback scenes could better define the era we are seeing play out.

Every Great Man is an outstanding piece of fringe theatre and there can be no doubt it will surely have a life beyond this limited first run. The trio has been cast exquisitely and the audience is totally absorbed into their relationships. The dynamic of female friendship and love is so layered and often nuanced. McKay’s play portrays something many women will identify with - and most men would do well to understand.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Tom Ambrose

Every Great Man is produced and presented by RamPage Theatre and most recently played at The Cockpit from 9-10 August 2025, as part of the Camden Fringe.