Theatre / Caligula by Albert Camus, directed by Isaiah Prichard. Performative Theatre Company, ACT HUB until 4 July 2026. Reviewed by JOE WOODWARD

Caligula, as written by Albert Camus and presented by Performative Theatre Company, is an unlikely amalgam of Rocky Horror, Shakespeare’s Macbeth and
Brecht’s Arturo Ui. Held together with a dexterous performance by Mischa Rippon as Caligula and a most intriguing set design by Kathleen Kershaw that might well have been derived from the German Bauhaus influences, Caligula is a play for today; presented with a strong contemporary feel that clearly captivates a young audience.

The historical Caligula was actually named Gaius and reigned for four years as Roman Emperor from 37AD. One can only speculate as to what factual evidence Camus might have included in his play. Camus wrote the play in the late 1930s and kept redrafting it for some years later as part of his “cycle of the absurd”.

Rippon’s Caligula wields control, not only through brute power, but also through psychological injection into those around him; making them like automatons never allowed to think or express any kind of opinion he doesn’t want to hear. He demands the ultimate newspeak. He even demands that those who hate him pretend they love him; so much so that one character implores another to simply “understand him”.

Tash Lyall’s Caesonia provides a licenced permission to provide a semblance of counter insight to Caligula’s ego. Lyall performs with dignified strength transversing the dangerous divide between the loyalty of fear and the intent of others to overcome the emperor and his power. This is difficult in a play that ultimately relies on its absurd basis. Lyall does this very well; holding an inner power while being psychologically present at all times on stage.

All characters apart from Caligula and Caesonia are made to really consider their words lest they be cancelled in a most violent way. The word games they are enticed to play are traps laid to destroy them. For Caligula, the world is a game. It is art. It is a form of poetry with only the extremes having any real value.

It is a mechanised world. Characters are mechanised. The set for the production is very highly mechanised with some ingenious devices. It is a world of action without real introspection.

Rippon works this cynical connivance in a way reminiscent of Tim Curry’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Show. The character still needs more of a dark edge when something of the inner beast bursts out from the deceitful banter. Caligula and those today who are would-be Caligulas like Kim Jong Un in North Korea and petty tyrants in all walks of life are not just figures of absurdity but do inhabit very deep and destructive agencies that cause extreme pain and hardship on the world. There is something very real in this scenario that delves below absurdity and into hellish reality.

Isaiah Prichard’s production goes some distance towards this. Stage set-up and the relationship with the audience provokes considerable relationship with ideas, physical presence and the narrative. It brings the distant past into the present.

The actors mainly live up to connecting all the disparate elements together. More commitment to the stylised form, particularly with movement and sculpting of the players would support the visual elements seen in the face make-up and the stage design itself.

Performative Theatre Company have set very high expectations for themselves and for audiences. This work goes a long way towards realising such expectations. It is attracting a young audience that is responding very well to the efforts on the stage. May it continue on its path to rejuvenate theatre, drawing in audiences for their provocative and exciting theatrical choices.

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