Last Summer formed part of the A Pro of Nothing anthology of short plays, written by Andrew Allen and directed by Andrew Allen and Michelle Donkin for the Hove Grown new drama festival.

“From beginning to end Cast Iron’s A Pro of Nothing delights, intrigues and shocks. The evening consists of six short plays performed back to back by local actors. The writing was bold as were some of the performances. We are taken effortlessly into new worlds with each new play. This evening was one of pure delight and the packed audience howled with laughter and brimmed with anticipation, eagerness and readiness for the comic and tragic bombshells to hit…

…The second piece was called ‘Last Supper’ directed by Andrew Allen and Michelle Donkin. This piece transcends reality as we arrive at a dinner party set in the afterlife. We are met with Ghandi, incongruously and comically played by Alice Hiller, Mary Wollstonecraft played by Philippa Hammond and a self-deprecating Boots supervisor played by Barbara Halsey. It is the Boots supervisor’s ideal dinner party come to fruition according to Ghandi and the news that she is in fact dead slightly mortifies her, although more could have been made of this moment. To the outrage of Mary, the supervisor reveals that her private diaries have been published by ‘Penguin’. As Mary hears of this unknown evil that is ‘Penguin’ she becomes incensed creating such sharp humour and wit and joy to the audience.  We find out that Mary is no stranger to these dinner parties and frequents many, she informs her friends that she is no stranger to modern lingo and contemporary developments, philosophies and ideas as she has learnt from Freud as well as his partiality for pastries. This unique piece has us filled with wonder …

… Overall it was a highly entertaining evening of clever, innovative writing covering many genres, worlds, characters and stories and one of which its audience enjoyed tremendously … constantly shocked with its many twists and turns in both comedy and tragedy and so I award it the rating of ‘recommended’. Indeed some of the performances deserve a special accolade and the writing itself too. I left with a smile on my face, feeling attached to each of the characters and the unique narratives and having experienced a wonderfully intimate evening of such variety.”

Fringe Review
Olivia Sewell