Jermyn Street Theatre (studio)
Josh Seymour (director)
75 mins (length)
14 October 2025 (released)
17 October 2025
Rag Doll is Katherine Moar’s second play after a very successful debut with Farm Hall, which was an unprecedented success for Jermyn Street Theatre. This time she has been inspired by the trial and sentencing of Patty Hirst, to create a drama that explores the fall from grace, not only for Holly (the fictional Patty) but also her top-notch lawyer.
Beginning in 2017 the mature versions of the two characters Holly and her Lawyer Robert are thrown together when he is facing a crisis in his personal and working persona which threatens to destroy him. Forcing him to turn to Holly to plead for her help as a most irregular character witness. Nathaniel Parker and Abigail Cruttenden are excellent in the roles. Portraying the simmering tension and restrained bitterness which is always under the surface waiting to explode.
To bring their past to the fore. Scenes shift back to 1978 and the preparation and trial of the Heiress (Young Holly) played by Katie Matsell and her Lawyer (Young Robert) played by Ben Lamb. Here we see an overly excitable rich young Holly accused of several armed robberies, and the hot shot lawyer brought in by her father to defend, and to a degree tame her overexuberance. His fame and her infamy always at odds and failure never envisaged, until it happens.
It is clear what an exceptional writer Moar is, and there are some highly charged confrontations and moments of true tension. However, much of the play is slow to build with lengthy scenes in both time frames that could benefit from judicial editing. That is until the final scenes when suddenly they collide, and the four characters come together interplaying in a way that jars with the style of the rest of the play.
Directed by Josh Seymour he makes good use of the intimate space and building the necessary tension. However, with the script demanding a massive overly expensive sofa. This key prop becomes an obstacle the actors must negotiate rather than inhabit. This is a play that is full of promise and with some judicious changes could be another winner.
Photo credit: Alex Brenner.
