Nadia Fall opens her tenure at the Young Vic with a revival of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr Sloane. It is a bold choice that brings the play back to London after nearly two decades, and while not every note lands, the result is often striking, unsettling and darkly funny.

The story follows a young lodger, Sloane, who moves into the home of Kath, her brother Ed, and their elderly father Kemp. Desire and rivalry take over as both siblings compete for Sloane’s attention, while Kemp suspects him of hiding a violent past. It is a domestic set-up that spirals into blackmail, betrayal and uneasy compromise.

Designer Peter McKintosh surrounds the stage with furniture and discarded objects suspended above the action, a haunting collage of broken lives. Staged in the round, the audience is placed inside the claustrophobic home. Richard Howell’s lighting gives the show extra flair, from the unsettling green spotlight that isolates Sloane to a strobe-lit nightclub sequence that pushes the play into surreal territory.

The cast bring energy and precision. Tamzin Outhwaite is outstanding as Kath, playing her with a mix of comic desperation and emotional truth. She is both grotesque and deeply sympathetic, and her performance holds the production together. Daniel Cerqueira gives Ed a sharp, repressed edge, his attraction to Sloane surfacing in uncomfortable flashes. Christopher Fairbank makes Kemp both bitter and vulnerable, embodying the play’s bleak humour.

Jordan Stephens makes his stage debut as Sloane and shows real promise. He has charisma and physical presence, capturing Sloane’s charm and sly opportunism, even if the role could benefit from a little more menace. There is enough here, however, to convince as the object of the family’s dangerous obsessions.

Fall’s direction leans into realism, which softens some of Orton’s outrageousness. The play no longer shocks in the way it once did, but it still provokes, exposing cruelty, repression and desire with unsettling clarity. At times the tone wavers, but the mix of strong design and performances keeps the evening compelling.

As the opening of Fall’s Young Vic tenure, this revival feels confident, stylish and full of intent. Entertaining Mr Sloane may have lost some of its original sting, but in this production it still entertains, unsettles and lingers.

Entertaining Mr Sloane runs at the Young Vic, London, until 8 November 2025.Tickets available at youngvic.org.

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