This review was originally written for The Reviews Hub: https://www.thereviewshub.com/2-36-camden-fringe-2025-etcetera-theatre/

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Estranged siblings Josh and Kiera find themselves at a crossroads during a fraught reunion in the ambitious 2.36.

Josh (Elijah Lifton), the grandchild of an unnamed yet exceptionally wealthy property baron, is attempting to reconnect with half-sister Kiera (Anoushka Cowan) while on a trip to Luxembourg in a veiled attempt to embrace their family history. This soon fades as Josh and Kiera are forced to confront the dysfunctional nature of their family and its wealth, during one embittered night on their holiday.

It is a script not without ambition. Over just 40 minutes, the characters confront their damaged relationship, Kiera’s jealousy of Josh, Kiera’s fraught affair with her boyfriend and addict, Sebastian, the sudden death of said grandfather, Josh’s feelings of inadequacy and a potential personal financial crisis. As a result, the performance, while successfully weaving some of these stories together, feels a little unrefined, and while very well performed by the performer-writer duo, it could afford to scale back some of the plot lines.

Indeed, the production initially garners a sense of HBO’s Succession, amid a backdrop of conversations about wealth, the financial markets and siblings fighting it out to be heard in a wealthy family. But the real success of the production lies in Lifton and Cowan’s delivery, combining their writing and performing talents to patch together numerous moments from one pivotal day for the pair with success. Despite the piece’s short run time, the duo does well to carve out the believable and fractured relationship between the pair quickly and effectively.

There are a few sound design choices that could perhaps be reviewed. The decision to have an upbeat instrumental quietly underscoring Josh and Kiera’s pivotal fight is a little too intrusive, but overall, the production’s design, limited to a few chairs, a table and a giant painting, works well in their minimalism to enable the focus to stay on the warring siblings.

The play’s title does not just take its name from a crucial moment in the script, but is also, as Josh references, the average size of a family in the UK. There is, though, nothing average about Josh and Kiera in this brief but fierce duologue.