Co-Creators: Matt Miller and Peader Kirk
Get your overalls on, it’s time for an intensive eight week course in car mechanics. If you didn’t know anything about vehicle maintenance before, you’re sure to now as the appropriately named Natalie Spanner is the course leader and you can’t shy away from car tests and quizzes, as well as potentially being called on stage to dip your stick. The description suggests this is a play full of silliness and laughter, and from one angle this is true. Swapping seats in the car gives an entirely different view, however, and Fixing has more depth and purpose behind it than is initially thought.
Fixing, co-created by Matt Miller and Peader Kirk, is not merely about cars; although if you don’t already know what an alternator is, then you will about ten minutes in. This play explores the struggles of life. While we must perform ‘holistic car care’, this can be translated to caring for ourselves and dealing with our own crashes and breakdowns, with a particular focus on family dynamics. These metaphors are woven into the play cleverly, using Miller’s bittersweet experiences of family life growing up as a child in the 90s, and up to the present day.
The play begins full of life and energy with Miller performing as the glamorous and dazzling Natalie Spanner, against a backdrop of a 90s vintage garage. Spanner promptly tells the audience that signing up for this mechanical crash course should mean we are wearing our own overalls. What we lack in our own outfits is more than made up with the glittery outfit and bright yellow heels that Spanner proudly wears. The interactions with the audience are full of innuendoes and laughter, as well as the uncomfortably high risk of being invited on stage to fall victim to the silliness. Fear not, if you aren’t lucky enough to be dipping your oil stick on stage, everyone will have a role at some point from the comfort of their seat.
Miller swiftly transitions between their roles of Spanner and childhood Matt, often bringing an almost sudden change from laughter to serious reflection. It is here that Miller opens up in vivid detail about their family dynamics and personal struggles, all spoken from experience and with emotion during a time of parental divorce. As the play goes on, there is a focus on trying to fix family bonds, using the common interest of cars and nostalgic memories of times living at Crookhill. The metaphors between family life and fixing cars get stronger and more meaningful as the story delves deeper.
Fixing has been created in an intelligent and meaningful way that offers a blend of drag humour with authentic and meaningful reflection. In many ways, the play achieves its intended purpose; however, the regular swapping between the silliness of Spanner and the seriousness of Matt means that the important, powerful moments can’t always be appreciated in full.
Reviewed on 6 February 2026 and on tour
