TROLL
BY ANNIE FOX
A woman is baking cupcakes. A knock on the door. Time for her to tell her story. She's been the perfect mother, hasn't she? And who called the police?
TROLL REVIEW 28.7.26
Poor Jessica: her mother Carol is a high-strung parent hellbent on getting her daughter into Oxford (Cambridge has too many parties). In a tight 45 minutes, Annie Fox’s play Troll effectively skewers helicopter-parent culture. We are drawn into Carol’s story as she ices cupcakes while telling us about all the good things she has done for Jessica, who, not surprisingly, is not doing so well.
The writing is sharp and darkly funny and the performance is equally sharp: Deborah Hadley doesn’t miss a beat as she recounts the story of how she raised Jessica to perfection on classical music and how she dismisses worries that her daughter is looking too thin.
The climax is as dark as expected and Hadley is absolutely magnetic to watch. The monster under the bridge may in fact be wearing an apron and sipping a glass of pinot grigio.
Alexander Burnett
Poor Jessica: her mother Carol is a high-strung parent hellbent on getting her daughter into Oxford (Cambridge has too many parties). In a tight 45 minutes, Annie Fox’s play Troll effectively skewers helicopter-parent culture. We are drawn into Carol’s story as she ices cupcakes while telling us about all the good things she has done for Jessica, who, not surprisingly, is not doing so well.
The writing is sharp and darkly funny and the performance is equally sharp: Deborah Hadley doesn’t miss a beat as she recounts the story of how she raised Jessica to perfection on classical music and how she dismisses worries that her daughter is looking too thin.
The climax is as dark as expected and Hadley is absolutely magnetic to watch. The monster under the bridge may in fact be wearing an apron and sipping a glass of pinot grigio.
Alexander Burnett
