Patricia Allison comes to this production after her breakout in Sex Education. Stefanie Martini is known for The Gold and earlier film and television work. Both carry strong presence and a steady sense of character. Seeing them together sets an early expectation that the play may reach for something bold.

Private View begins with a spark between two women who meet at an exhibition. Their interest grows fast. Curiosity becomes desire. The room tightens around them. The story moves with speed. The tone shifts from open to uneasy.

The acting is careful and often engaging. Some scenes feel warm and real. Others feel more shaped by the ideas in the script than by the emotional truth of the moment. The play brings in thoughts about light and intention and how people influence each other. These thoughts appear often and create interesting threads, yet they do not always deepen what the characters feel. I expected the play to push further, yet it stayed just short of the emotional clarity it seemed to promise.

Allison plays the younger woman with intelligence and a soft vulnerability. Her character’s passion for her studies feels vivid. Her uncertainty in love feels vivid too. Martini brings a calm certainty that slowly breaks apart. She shifts from ease to need and carries the strain of that shift in her voice and stillness.

The relationship grows at a fast pace. Attraction turns into dependence. Playfulness slips into pressure. The production supports these turns with sharp lighting, focused movement, and a sound world that keeps the tension in motion. The small stage helps the closeness, though it also makes the uneven parts of the writing more visible.

The play is strongest in the quiet moments where the power between the two changes shape. A pause, a question, a look that stays too long. These moments feel true. You recognise the pull and the fear. You recognise how quickly interest can turn into worry.

There is ambition throughout the play. There are ideas that reach for something sharp. Yet the story often circles them without settling. The final scenes arrive with weight but leave space that the earlier acts do not fully prepare for.

Private View is steady, visually thoughtful, and supported by committed performances. It also feels slightly distant, like something interesting viewed from behind a glass pane. You sense what it wants to explore, but it remains just beyond reach.

A thoughtful evening with brief moments of real connection.

Photos by Ciara Robinson

Production details

Private View runs at Soho Theatre from 27 November 2025 to 20 December 2025.
Tickets can be purchased here.

Cast

Patricia Allison
Stefanie Martini

Creative team

Writer: Jess Edwards
Director: Annie Kershaw
Movement director: Ingrid Mackinnon
Intimacy director: Ingrid Mackinnon
Set designer: Georgia Wilmot
Costume designer: Georgia Wilmot
Lighting designer: Catja Hamilton
Sound designer: Josh Anio Grigg
Casting director: Jacob Sparrow
Production managers: Sarah Cowan, Toby P Darvill
Stage manager: Shuyin Stella Wang
Assistant stage manager: Lauren Vickers
Producer: Speakerphone Productions

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