REVIEW: BUNGALOW by Ruth D’Silva at Theatre503 until 15 March 2025

‘A dark, challenging, but ultimately redemptive play.’  ★★★★

The open scenes of Bungalow feature Agatha (Lydia Bakelmun) returning home to be with her mother Bernadette (Fisun Burgess) whilst her father is in hospital. In this charismatic Anglo-Indian family, the initial interplay between mother and daughter is very funny and the actors have great chemistry. But it doesn’t take long to realise that something is very wrong.

Agatha’s seeming need for small gestures of affection and affirmation from her mother reveals more fundamental issues. There was something bad that happened in this bungalow, cluttered with Catholic iconography, to which Agatha has returned. And over the course of the play these events are slowly unpacked. Agatha is terrified of her brother Luke (Mikhael DeVille), who is now struggling as a parent himself, with a wife who won’t come near his dysfunctional family. To Bernadette he can do no wrong, but his own relationship is unravelling. 



The play changes pace as Agatha’s partner Steven (Jack Bence) joins her at the bungalow. Supportive and cheeky, he has a great relationship with Bernadette too, and it seems for a while that he might bring calm and reconciliation to this troubled home. But the unresolved issues bubbling under the surface prove too challenging even for him.

Ruth D’Silva intelligent debut play explores how abusive acts can be replicated across generations. Bernadette recounts her own traumatic childhood, only to turn a blind eye to her husband’s actions and her son’s treatment of his family. D’Silva’s empathetic writing reveals complexity in the characters who are all, ultimately, victims, even those who are also complicit and perpetrators. A dark, challenging, but ultimately redemptive play.

Photography: Harry Elletson

BUNGALOW written by Ruth D’Silva, directed by Beth Kapila, presented by Jessie Anand Productions 

Venue: Theatre503

Dates: 25 February - 15 March 2025

Box Office https://theatre503.com/whats-on/bungalow-2/ 

Cast

Agatha - Lydia Bakelmun

Bernadette - Fisun Burgess

Luke - Mikhael DeVille

Steven - Jack Bence

Creatives

Set and Costume Designer - Caitlin Mawhinney

Lighting Designer - Cheng Keng

Sound Designer - José Guillermo Puello

Intimacy Director - Georgina Makhubele