Review: YOU WILL FIND ME, Theatre Royal Windsor
Photo credit: Jack Merriman
At a time when the theatre industry reports fewer new plays and a decline in audience attendances at them, it’s refreshing to visit the Theatre Royal Windsor to see a world premiere of a play in front of a good house. Bill Kenwright Limited’s commitment to new work is evidenced by having a three-year deal to its Writers in Residence. Catherine O’Reilly and Tim Churchill wrote Doubting Thomas staged there in June 2025, and return now with an intriguing new play, You Will Find Me.
Set in an ageing Victorian flat next to a building site in East London, we find Joe Evans with his mother, estranged from her husband, and renting temporary accommodation. When a leaky tap requires a plumber to clear out a cupboard, he leaves an old diary for Joe to read. It sets up the intriguing scenario, and the composite set presents a parallel world of 1981 when Lizzie Slater lived in the flat with her drunken police officer father, and the new residents forty years later. The link between the two periods is Terry Barker who moved into the flats in 1979, and his partner Christine who moved into the flats in 1982. They now act as landlady and odd job man for the flats. What do they know of the disappearance of Lizzie in 1981 and what will the diary reveal?
The production cleverly weaves in nostalgic references to the 80s in the music, news stories, films and TV themes which, together with a red fluorescent edging to the false proscenium and subtle tonal lighting changes, create the reenactment of the scenes recorded in the diary as Joe turns the pages. The use of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird cleverly adds to the intrigue as we hear the quote “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”, which is exactly what Joe seeks to do.
The four young actors at the centre of the story are excellent, driving the narrative and setting up the mystery to be solved of what happened to Lizzie and whether it is her body found in the building site next door which brings the police to the door? Louis Holland captures the frustrated and then curious Joe as he questions why his mother has brought him here, and fascinated by the diary notes. Abi-Lily Clarke is the sixteen-year-old Lizzie Slater struggling with her father’s drunken behaviour and anxious to attract a boyfriend. Ella Murphy is her confident school friend Tina, and Kieran Usher is the young boy Gary who attracts both their attention. Together, they capture adolescent attitudes in both periods struggling with their relationships with friends and family .
Lucy Benjamin plays Joe’s Mum Maggie, while Ben Nealon and Sue Elliott-Nicholls are the neighbours, Terry and Christine. Mark Field manages to very effectively play the dual roles of the drunken 1981 father and the investigating detective forty years later. But what secrets are they hiding?
Director Anastasia Osei-Kuffour judges the pace well, so we are swept along, seeing and hearing the clues to the mystery solution without time to question the plot or truth. The gradual merging of the two time periods with Joe observing the 1981 scenes is very effective as he tries to piece together that truth. The composite set with the main flat, neighbours flat, park bench and disco is cleverly designed by Julie Godfrey and well-lit by Nick Richards adding to the storytelling and atmosphere.
Like Doubting Thomas last year, the Writers in Residence have created a very well-structured play, with some intriguing twists and reveals, delivered perfectly by the excellent cast. Theatre Royal Windsor is bucking the trend by successfully staging new plays, deserves to be applauded for the effort and Besties, we hope it succeeds while other producers are reluctant to take the risk.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
You Will Find Me plays at Theatre Royal Windsor until 16 May, with further info here.