Writer: Gloria Danili
Director: Roman Stefanski
A voice from the throne room opens proceedings, and nothing about the hour that follows settles into anything predictable. Mr Moore’s Bizarre Secret Society begins with Queen Victoria addressing the audience directly, an unusual and immersive choice that pulls everyone into 1865 before a word of plot has been explained.
Film projections, used throughout, add real texture to the storytelling, and the lighting and sound design do a great deal of the emotional heavy lifting, with voiceovers of half-remembered memories landing with genuine tenderness under carefully placed spotlights.
Sarah Finch undergoes the most transformations across the evening and handles every one of them with ease, moving between Queen Victoria, a pirate, and the brute of the opening scene among others. The early brute sequence lands with real weight, building sympathy for Michael Bertenshaw’s Mr Moore and the poverty he has been left to from the outset.
Scenes nest within scenes throughout, each handled with care, and Henry Camp’s Leopold is an instant favourite, bringing a kindness and innocence that anchors the production. Derek Jeck’s dual turn as Vernon Liddell and Lewis Carroll adds another layer of period texture, while the younger members of the cast, playing a run of quick-changing roles across the piece, hold their accents and characters with real confidence throughout.
A later scene finds Mr Moore alone and sorrowful in London, before a run of animal props tips the mood swiftly back into comedy, the accompanying film work doing particularly strong work here. Props continue to surprise as the play goes on, and a courtroom scene built around snobbery and discomfort gets properly under the skin, as one of the younger performers carries a demanding courtroom role without once letting it slip, in a scene that deserves real recognition.
A library scene brings the first proper note of hope, the growing bond between Leopold and Mr Moore handled gently and threaded through with references to the period’s real history. A flashback into Mr Moore’s own childhood reframes his guardedness entirely, folding fear, regret and understanding into one compact, affecting sequence. Elsewhere, an exaggerated take on the Queen’s wardrobe and accent keeps the comedy flowing freely, a reminder that the production never takes its own history lesson too seriously.
What stands out most across the whole production is the sheer range the cast moves through: characters, accents and physicality shifting at pace without ever losing clarity, under direction that keeps a large ensemble feeling tightly controlled rather than chaotic.
A closing scene with Alice brings the evening to a satisfying close. Dickensian in spirit and generous with its history, Mr Moore’s Bizarre Secret Society makes it easy to fall for London, warts and all.
Runs until 10 October 2026
