King of Pangea | King's Head Theatre

Child-like imagination and whimsy, whether or not we care to admit it, still often have a major part to play in our adult life, as they provide one with comfort, solace, or simply an escape from our troubles, especially in the wake of the worst moments of our lives. The first stage of grief, i.e. denial, more often than not is a major contributing factor to this desire to remove ourselves from our normal lives, from this awful situation, and live vicariously through our own childhood memories, be they real or fabricated.

In many ways, it feels like the stages of grief are a central connecting theme of Martin Storrow’s new musical King of Pangea, a whimsical and magical journey of discovery that takes us through the imagination of Sam Crow, as he tries to escape dealing with the loss of his mother, a woman with a hopelessly optimistic and sunny outlook on life in the face of great personal tragedy. Yet in spite of the established backstory to this character, in theory, being more than enough to draw anyone in, it does feel in many ways like this was rather rushed, and the narrative has little room to breathe, as by the time we have reached a major plot point, we’ve had next to no time to let it sink in before moving on.

This is most prominent during the expositional section, during which around 15 years of time is squeezed into about 20 minutes, and the pacing of this was so breakneck that we as an audience didn’t really have much of an opportunity to build any kind of affinity towards the supporting characters in particular. Why do we care about them? Why do their stories matter to us? And what relevance will their respective journeys have further down the line? Sadly the answer isn’t one we fully realise in the end.

One thing is for certain though, leading man Alfie Blackwell is a future star, he gave a performance of terrific emotional nuance, fully endearing us to him as a character. It’s just a real shame the relationship building was done in a fairly glib and half-hearted manner that we can never really be completely with him for the ride. Mark Curry was another major highlight, his nonchalant yet infectious energy was always hugely entertaining, especially as he portrayed Elijah, one of a handful of characters from Sam’s imagination, which is brought to life with wonderful panache, contrasting brilliantly with the doctor he also portrays.

Issues with the narrative aside though, there is a sweetness, and an innate charm with which it’s delivered by the six performers on stage. The sense of whimsy we experience through Sam’s perspective is marvellously accentuated by Carly Brownbridge’s set design, as every inch of the tiny King’s Head Theatre stage is utilised fully, and there is plenty of ingenuity involved in maximising the space. The score by Storrow, combined with Anthony Lucca’s orchestrations had an abundance of personality, and there was no shortage of marvellous musical performances from cast and orchestra alike.

I do think that with slightly less frenetic pacing, this could easily become a hugely popular piece of musical theatre, as there is undoubted potential to make us laugh and cry a whole lot more. With regret though, it just feels a tiny bit half baked, as if the voyage we were taken on was only halfway through by the time proceedings were wrapped up, regardless of how much it charmed our socks off.

King of Pangea plays at King's Head Theatre until 06th July 2025.

Tickets and More Information

★★★☆☆ (3*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Steve Gregson