Last week we popped down to the (still fairly new) Southwark Playhouse Elephant to check out This Is My Family, a revival of Tim Firth’s 2013 award-winning musical. It tells the story of a dysfunctional family seemingly entrenched in a never-ending cycle of domestic spats. Early on, we discover that daughter Nicky (Nancy Allsop) has won a family holiday in a competition: she has done so by describing her ideal version of her family, which is somewhat fanciful. The holiday in question is a camping trip back to the exact spot her parents first met. Will this experience help bring the family back together?
We can’t imagine it was particularly groundbreaking stuff when it debuted in 2013 and by 2025’s standards it all feels a bit too pedestrian and predictable. Each family member has pretty much every stereotype you could imagine: we have dad Steve (Michael Jibson) who never reads the instructions when doing DIY and has recently taken up free running; we have rebellious, angsty teenage son Matt (Luke Lambert); there’s the kooky aunt Sian (Victoria Elliott) who seems to be juggling a variety of midlife crises; the list goes on.
And yet something about the show is quite endearing – nothing about the ending surprised us in the slightest and yet it was still pleasant enough when it arrived. The songs are all perfectly enjoyable, they’re well sung, there are a handful of amusing lyrics and the arrangements are solid. It all moves a bit slowly – act one is essentially just establishing the characters and deciding where to go on holiday, but the family doesn’t actually go anywhere or do anything of note until after the interval – it doesn’t spoil things, but the show could easily be 20 minutes shorter.
There’s nothing really wrong with This Is My Family – in fact it has a few moments we really quite warmed too – there’s just not a huge amount to recommend, either. It’s all quite safe and family friendly – there’s an earlier-than-usual start time (7pm) which we figured was more geared towards families – and we’re sure there’s an audience for it, though it didn’t quite grab us as much as we’d have liked.
GAY TIMES gives This Is My Family – 3/5
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