FringeReview Scotland 2026
Peaked
SlashHouse Theatre Company
Genre: New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Duns Volunteer Hall
Festival: FringeReview Scotland
Low Down
A quartet of former child stars receives an invite to a reunion a decade after the curtain fell on their hit TV series Shady Peaks, where mysteries were solved by following a trail of cryptically worded or visual clues. With a good dollop of daring do thrown in for good measure, naturally. But the final credits rolled a decade ago, so what happened next? What do child stars do in adulthood?
Review
Success comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s arrival is often unpredictable. Sometimes you don’t even recognise it for what it is. Or was, so transitory can the experience be as it flashes past in the blink of an eye. But if success arrives in your teens, what happens after that?
A quartet of former child stars has received an invite to a reunion a decade after the curtain fell on their hit TV series Shady Peaks, where mysteries were solved by following a trail of cryptically worded or visual clues. With a good dollop of daring do thrown in for good measure, naturally. But as the final credits roll, what next? Just complete your education and……….well, do whatever child stars do in adulthood?
Lucas (Huw Turnbull) is tidying the bar in preparation for the arrival of the rest of the gang, excited at the prospect of reliving the old times, old glories, with perhaps the chance to star again in the suggested revival. Beth (Amy Kenneally) is the first to arrive, obviously nervous at the prospect of catching up with people she hasn’t seen in years. People that have probably changed, that she may not even recognise given the passage of time.
But who could forget Leila (Abi Price)? Leila is a force of nature, dwarling, the self-titled “Miss Artistic Authority”, who attended to one of the best drama schools that Daddy’s money could buy. She was in King Lear too. With a line. And, thanks to Daddy’s continued unwavering financial support, her career in real theatre is poised for lift off. After all, wasn’t she just an absolute “wow” in the last Camden am-dram panto.
Dick (Gordon Stackhouse) has really hit the big time as a film star, however, so much so that he’s only contactable through “his people” these days. True to form, “Richard” (as he now insists his erstwhile school chums call him) doesn’t so much “enter stage right” as land on it, exuding Oxbridge style charisma (thanks to the elocution lessons), and oozing monetised (if not artistic) success from every pore.
However, just as the scene is set for a pleasant evening of reminiscing, the lights go out, a strange voice is heard and Shady Peaks style clues start to mysteriously appear, forcing the gang to revisit the controversy surrounding the absent fifth member of the gang, Adam, that led to the show ultimately being pulled all those years ago.
Peaked subtly explores what can happen when success arrives a bit too early in life, leaving you with the worrying feeling that, as you hit your mid-twenties, this could be it. Life effectively over before it’s really begun. Sport is littered with such examples – athletes forced to seek unplanned alternative careers by injury, a failure to fulfil youthful potential, too much competition for places or a combination of all three. It’s painful emotionally and (often) physically too. Many fail to cope, cricket being witness to a disproportionate number of lives that have been terminated tragically too soon.
Huw Turnbull’s nuanced and multi-layered script drip feeds the differing back stories behind each of the four characters, stripping away the veneer behind which lies a mix of delusion, desperation, deceit but, in one notable case, a determination to move on with life, finding real fulfilment by being able to let go of the past.
The quartet of actors bring Turnbull’s words to live with feeling, meaning and just about enough dry, observational humour to give what was a packed and enthralled audience at the DunsPlayFest’s Volunteer Hall a wee break from the tangle unfurling before them. And Minnie Cross’s assured light touch as director kept the action flowing, with Isla Duffy’s set and Jack Read’s lighting providing support throughout. Credit too, goes to Nonny Jones, for her specially composed, ethereal sound scape.
As the wheels come off the proverbial metaphorical bus, so all is slowly revealed; why Adam was forced out; what became of him; how life has turned darker for one of the others; who your true friends are; and how far some people are willing to go to advance their career in their chosen profession, one renowned for its precarity.
With a chilling denouement bringing clarity and resolution in a manner that was as surprising as it was poignant, it’s clear that SlashHouse Theatre Company have landed themselves with a real winner here. Highly recommended.
