Something Clean

The Lion and Unicorn Theatre • 29th April – 3rd May 2026

Something Clean by Tony Award nominated playwright Selina Filinger first appeared off Broadway in 2019 to critical acclaim, and has lost non of its potency as it returns for an exceptionally limited run of just 5 performances at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre. Produced by the T. Regina Theatre Company and directed by Alex Stroming, this quietly intense play focuses on the effects that a sexual assault has, not, as you might expect, on the assailant or the victim, but on the family of the perpetrator. Whilst the intimacy of this 60 seat black box studio theatre echoes that of the venue the play made its debut in seven years ago, the performances on display in this production are definitely more than worthy of being on a West End stage.

Central to this is Katherine Oliver as Charlotte, a mother to Kai and wife to Doug, (Lawrence Carmichael), whose world has fallen apart as she tries to unpick the circumstances that have led to her finding herself with a son she no longer recognises and a husband she has become estranged from, and with who she now struggles to either confide in or be intimate with. The answers she seeks to help her reconcile these recent events must come from within, and whilst she is proactive in trying to tackle a past that she no longer recognises, her solutions have the potential to create even bigger problems for her and her family.

The third character in this powerful three-hander is Joey, (Felipe Chavez) a young 24 year old who works at a crisis centre that Charlotte finds herself volunteering for. ‘We’re big on new beginnings here’, he reassures Charlotte, and whilst her initial reaction is to run and reconsider exactly what her motives are for being there, we learn that hers is not the only new beginning the centre is helping to facilitate, Joey’s amiable and ‘perky’ demeanour itself a shield for a life tainted by trauma. Underpinning all of this beats a foreboding six month countdown that will mark the end of a jail sentence beyond which lays an uncertain future for everyone concerned.

Something Clean is a complex but exceptionally well written play that systematically exposes its characters deeper truths as the story progresses. It is intelligent and movingly engaging as it explores the complexities of human frailty when coping with unexpected and uninvited  trauma, the fallout from which can lead to irrational decisions and broken relationships as each of those affected desperately try to find their own coping mechanism just to get through each day, Doug’s stoic approach being very different from that of his wife’s, but both, in their own way, trying to rebuild a present whilst coming to terms with the past.

With scenes that alternate at a fairly rapid pace, mostly between the marital home and the crisis centre, director Alex Stroming still manages to give each scene it’s time and space, the pauses speaking just as loudly as the dialogue. It is no doubt a demanding dynamic for Katherine Oliver to negotiate as she is only off stage briefly towards the end, and so finds herself quickly having to adapt to her characters changing emotional state between each scene. This she does with expert precision, capable of articulating Charlotte’s state not only through her faultless delivery of Filinger’s keenly observed dialogue, but also through her quiet, but precise, body language. Lawrence Carmichael also impresses as the more emotionally repressed Doug, his approach to trying to save his marriage being not to confront the issues that have ripped through their comfortable life. Despite these two first class performances, the biggest surprise of the night for me actually came from Felipe Chavez who I had first met way back in 2019 to interview for Jack The Lad: Issue 19 after a solo exhibition of his incredible artwork. With no mention of acting having been on the horizon back then, the fact that he can now deliver such an engaging performance at the start of this new artistic direction bodes great things to come from this enigmatic up and coming actor.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Something Clean is on at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 29th April to 4th May.

review: Simon J. Webb