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The Olive Boy

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 5 Published: 23 Jan 2026 Southwark Playhouse Show Dates: 14 Jan 2026-31 Jan 2026

A tragicomedy that is both entertainment and therapy, The Olive Boy is rooted in the death of Ollie Maddigan’s adolescence and his grief management following the death of his mother, which he confronts through the lens of himself aged 15.

A hilarious, tear-jerking and profound theatrical triumph

It's emotionally challenging, but it's his choice and he knows what he’s doing. The play is not just a release and coming-to-terms mechanism for him, but has also powerfully impacted others who have found themselves in similar situations. In conversation he will relate moving accounts of parents and children who have thanked him for The Olive Boy and the way it has helped to bring about reconciliation in families and hope for the bereaved.

Maddigan is now 22, but vividly remembers his youth, which provides the framework for what one assumes is an embellished, yet authentic, portrayal of the boy he was. A family video opens the play before he makes a swaggering entrance in his dishevelled school uniform of black trousers, white shirt, blazer and tie. He sits and waits, looks around to get a feel of his audience, raising the tension with a lengthy pause, before breaking the ice with a line of humour. It’s a device that will appear on several occasions and just one of the many performance skills he uses so deftly. He artfully juggles punctuation to create momentum and then hold things still. Rather than stopping at the end of a sentence, he will run straight into the next, irrespective of content, and then insert an unexpected pause. It’s a clever attention-holding strategy that combines with accents and voices attached to an array of characters he portrays.

Complementing the language is the physicality of his performance. He occupies the stage in a manner that illustrates teenage agility, using all available space and just one chair. He sits on it, leaps over it, stands on it, picks it up and thrusts it down. He has walking styles, movements and a myriad of gestures that in themselves entertain but which are always directly related to the text and reflect his various states of mind. Some flow smoothly, others are abrupt.

Alone on stage, but with the family, classmates and teachers vividly in his mind, he also interacts with some startling lighting by Adam Jefferys, precisely cued by stage manager Dani White, along with various sounds. On a plain stage these serve to change locations, time and moods.

As his life unfolds we are treated to the story of a bereaved lad in a dysfunctional relationship with his alcoholic father, trying to fit in as a stranger in a new school in a new area, while his body increasingly produces testosterone and he craves a girlfriend. As Maddigan has pointed out, “When you're a teenager and your mum passes away you don't stop being a teenager. It's not like you don't stop caring about who's popular and girls and drinking and parties.” And we see that sentiment well evidenced.

An earlier version of this play had enormous success at the Edinburgh Fringe, where I first saw it, and on tour, but now under the sensitive and imaginative direction of Scott Le Crass it’s had what they call a ‘glow-up’, and a play that always shone brightly glistens even more vividly as a hilarious, tear-jerking and profound theatrical triumph.

Amir Nisi

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

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The Blurb:

It’s tough being fifteen, right?

Imagine what happens when your raging teenage hormones are further complicated by the sudden death of your mother and the reappearance of your absent father.Based on Ollie Maddigan’s real life story, the olive boy is forced to change schools and move in with a man he barely knows. In a hopeless attempt to stay sane, he decides that the only way to move forward is to pursue the chances of finally getting a real girlfriend.Like most things in his life, it does not go to plan…First staged at the Hope Theatre in 2021, the show quickly gained attention at the Camden Fringe due to its inspiring message. After a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run and a 6-week national tour, The Olive Boy launches at Southwark Playhouse Borough with this hilarious yet heartfelt comedy based on real life experience.

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