Review - The Unfriend - People's Theatre

The Unfriend

People's Theatre

28th April, 2026

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Ian Willis

Cast:

Peter Lindel - Daniel Magee

Debbie Lindel - Helen Parker

Elsa J Krakowski - Ann Zunder

Alex Lindel - Jamie Cordes

Rosie Lindel - Sarah Jane Fisher

The Neighbour - Mark Buckley

PC Junkin - Steve Parry

Presenter - Simon Patrick Dowling

Peter and Debbie Lindel meet Elsa on a cruise holiday. Too polite to say no, give her their email to stay in touch after the holiday - Elsa has conveniently mislaid the cards she had especially printed to give out should she happen to meet people she wants to stay in touch with. This, perhaps, should have been the first alarm bell for Peter and Debbie. Once home she inundates them with emails until they eventually run out of polite excuses and offer to let her come visit them while she is in London.  As her arrival date draws near, Debbie decides to google their soon to be house guest and what she finds puts her in a spin. Elsa is a suspected murderer - but insufficient evidence means she has never been brought to trial. As Peter and Debbie try to summon up the gumption to email Elsa and tell her they have to cancel the trip, a surprise video call comes through. Elsa is here, outside their front door, two days early. She arrives with news that her friend from the cruise - now living in London - has died, unexpectedly. 

Faced with the unexpected early arrival of their guest, and their newly acquired knowledge of her past, Peter and Debbie must find a way past their very English politeness and ask her to leave. The main problem with this is that everyone, and especially their two teenage children, really like Elsa.

The Unfriend is a hilariously funny play about a pretty dark situation. Can you like someone who has committed murder? Would you trust them? Would you eat a sandwich made by them? 

How would you broach the subject of their past?  It is also a clash of cultures - polite English manners versus American brashness, with both the English couple and the American woman avoiding the issue while trying to deal with it. 

The cast are all brilliant at their different roles - Daniel Magee, as Peter, adept at avoiding confrontation at all costs, and Helen Parker as his highly strung wife, desperately trying to keep it together and eventually spectacularly failing! While Jamie Cordes and Sarah Jane Fisher are the epitomy of teenage surliness. Ann Zunder sails along as Elsa - the lovable, wise-cracking, suspected murderess. 

My favourite, however was the long-suffering Neighbour - Mark Buckley's almost deadpan performance is fabulous. A man destined never to understand the depth of indifference felt by his neighbours towards his most important issues!

Set almost entirely within the living room and kitchen of an English home, this situation comedy is full of the kind of humour that the Brits do so well, and at which the team at the People's excel. 

You have two more chances to catch it -  book a ticket and get there! 

Denise Sparrowhawk