BRIGHTON FRINGE – Don’t Panic, The Lantern Theatre

Writer: Taylor Carmen

Director: Kay Brattan

Reviewer: Lela Tredwell

With a passionate and ambitious envisaging of a not-too-distant future, chilling in its proximity to our own, Roman Cowboy Productions bring their short play Don’t Panic to the Brighton Fringe. Set in New York in 2108, this production proposes to explore the question: What’s the Point? It grapples with the unwieldy inquiry by drawing on an atmospheric set, a series of tantalising dramatised radio broadcasts, and through the exchanges between two stage hands in a rundown theatre. 

Amidst this grubby dystopian future, Mani (Taylor Carmen) and Kid (Gabrielle-Norma Griffin) are thrust together, working against a backdrop of posters for The Glass Menagerie, Waiting for Godot, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. There’s a rebellious grungy vibe to Lucy Ruff’s stage dressing, serving the atmosphere of a society in crisis, but coupled with a playlist which includes Green Day has us feeling we could be in the late 90s instead of 100 years in the future.

As the audience takes to the seats, Kid (Griffin) is already on stage, talking over heads in a Brechtian fashion, and trying to avoid having to clean up the mess. Positioned centrally, is a splattering of what appears to be either broken glass, or hopefully ice, which helps to ramp up the tensions from the go. Mani (Carmen) is buzzing around out back, calling commands to Kid to get the place sorted so they can leave, but clocking off tonight is going to be even harder than they expected, as sudden red lighting and an unpleasantly loud siren floors Mani.

Facing the intriguingly cryptic threat, Kid (Griffin) injures herself which seems to bring the pair together but their relationship is uneasy and their stilted dialogue, alienating. We find ourselves scanning for their humanity and longing for more emotional depth. Their choppy philosophical musings and conflict over aspirations could be seen to reflect a generation that has been buffeted around by technology, societal expectations, and over-stimulation creating a disconnect, a chaotic lack of focus and a thirst for unnecessary conflict. However, it also makes the characters and their relationship hard to get a handle on in an already unknown and untrustworthy world.

This is an ambitious play that does build an unsettling world which eerily reflects the ways we live now, but to meet its aspirations some of its most promising creative choices could use further development. A surreal dream sequence is explained away as meditation, making the promise of magic realism feel unfulfilled. There are times, the setting of 82 years from now seems unnecessary and these characters could quite as easily be here, right now, in a world of climate crisis, war, disinformation and panic. 

Reviewed 2nd May 2026