Writer: Emma Bentley
Director: Moses Gale
A girl cradles her tea in a caff, a supermodel chats intimately with a friend in the next booth, a homeless woman comes in asking for change, and a waitress quietly observes it all. The Supermodel in the Caff unfolds through these four perspectives, capturing a fleeting moment in time and the interior monologues that expose each character’s own story within it.
It’s through the contrasting depiction of these four characters that we come to appreciate Emma Bentley’s skill in embodying each one. With striking shifts in voice, movement and physicality, she delineates each character with precision. The pleasure lies in watching her transformation, though this focus on distinctness comes at the expense of uncovering what could unite them. The writing remains more invested in the individuality of these voices, leaving the piece feeling somewhat fragmented, lacking a clear, deeper meaning in the grander scheme of things and which is a feeling compounded by an abrupt, anticlimactic ending.
Under Moses Gale’s dynamic direction, the staging makes use of the four corners of the space, anchoring each character. Each monologue flows fluidly from outward action to inner thought. Jack Hathaway’s lighting design, including a pair of LED panels suspended above, enables sharp temporal and emotional shifts through bold colour transitions, while Amanda Priestly’s sound design adds a comic edge, playfully embracing sonic clichés to underline moments of irony.
Louise Worrall’s pared-back set design comprises a typical cafe set up with tomato-shaped ketchup vessels. The costume changes help clearly define each character visually, and there is a great visual moment when the supermodel looks back to when she used to cut out women from magazines as a teenager.
The supermodel in the caff is a finely crafted piece of storytelling that shines in its character work, even if it perhaps leaves us searching for a greater meaning.
Runs until 18 October 2025
