Sorry I Broke Your Arms and Legs | Pleasance Theatre

As Maybe You Like It Productions’ Sorry (I Broke Your Arms and Legs) opens, year 8 student Sam Wilson (written and portrayed by James Akka) is at the hospital, armed with a PowerPoint presentation and a stack of achievement badges, trying to apologise to his friend for breaking his arms…and legs.

It’s a very comprehensive PowerPoint presentation, because Sam is nothing if not an overachiever and because he thinks he might be graded on it, as he’s been sent to deliver it by his teacher and he can’t quite be convinced that she isn’t going to turn up. In a little more than an hour, Sam takes us not only through the apology, but the events leading up to the incident and how they intersect with Sam’s quest to become Head Boy and some important realisations that he makes along the way about his friendships and his sexuality. There are also several tangents and a whole host of PowerPoint special effects familiar to anyone who ever took an ICT (or is it just IT now?) class at school.

Akka, in his prep school uniform and his pulled-up socks, paints a likeable and amusing portrait of Sam, a character recognisable to any former (or current) overachievers, even those who would never dream of breaking any limbs in pursuit of their goals. Though the premise is somewhat wacky, the story at its heart is a very human one which will resonate with many.

The staging is basic, as would be expected for a piece of this nature, letting Akka’s performance, direction from Caleb Barron and the all-important PowerPoint presentation do the heavy lifting. Ultimately though, this is not a piece that needs to be dressed up, with the basic staging suiting the material.

Fresh from a successful Edinburgh Fringe run and UK tour, Sorry (I Broke Your Arms and Legs) is now ready to entertain London audiences. It is an excellent piece of fringe theatre which is well worth an hour of your time. This will be an hour full of laughs, but one which also hits some important emotional beats. 

Sorry (I Broke Your Arms and Legs) runs at Pleasance, London until 9th May. It can be viewed independently or as part of a double bill with Down to Chance, another offering from Maybe You Like It Productions. For more information and tickets, follow the link here.

★★★★☆ (4*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review