The Glow by Alistair McDowall - ★★★★☆

Ria Zmitrowicz as ‘The Woman’, Raike Ayola as Mrs Lyall, photo credit - Manuel Harlan

The Glow follows Mrs Lyall (Raike Ayola), a spiritualist medium in search of an assistant for her seances. In an asylum, she finds a nameless woman, with no memory of who she is. Mrs Lyall deems this woman to be the perfect candidate - much to the dismay of her son (Fisayo Akinade).

The first act of the show left us slightly spooked with more questions than answers - but, highly invested in Mrs Lyall’s crazed pursuit of communicating with the ‘other’ side.

As the play unfolds, we learn more about the woman’s past (Ria Zmitrowicz) and we’re taken on a unique and complex journey of time-travel, friendship, love and loss. And, as we bounce between 500,000 BC and the 20th century, and meet a range of characters on the way (special mention to Fisayo Akinade) the mystery of the woman unravels, and comes to neat close.

We rarely see spooky/sci-fi shows on stage, so The Glow was a welcome change.

Threaded through, the sci-fi, theatrics and thrills, The Glow is a layered and well thought through show, exploring life’s larger questions - so we’d highly recommend.

The Glow is currently showing at The Royal Court until 05 March, tickets from £12.