My Family's Ideal Holiday?
“Show me a man who could not follow a diagram and I will show you a man who could never give a girl a good time”
Sian
This is the first time that Londoners have had the opportunity to see Tim Firth’s musical This Is My Family after being directed by Daniel Evans In Sheffield at the Crucible and later in Chichester. It is about a family where the 13 year old Nicky (Nancy Allsop) wins a dream holiday in a competition.
Nicky as the narrator introduces the complexities of her family. Her father Steve (Michael Jibson who created the London version of George III in Hamilton) is 39 and approaching his fortieth birthday, he is in the midst of his mid-life crisis. A DIY enthusiast, his overly ambitious projects are fraught with problems from the head torch made from an Alice band and a cycle light, to the outside hot tub which is a plastic bath on a trailer. Other attempts to reclaim his youth are roller blading and freerunning with disastrous consequences for the garden shed.
Nicky’s rebellious brother Matt is 16 but insists he is 17. He is a Goth who recently married his girlfriend Rebecca (unseen) in a Druid ceremony. His communication style is to grunt and mumble. Matt and Nicky’s mother, Yvonne (Gemma Whelan), tries to keep the family together while dreading the arrival, to live with them, of Steve’s mother, May (Gay Soper). May is increasingly showing symptoms of Alzheimers. Then there’s Yvonne’s sister, Sian (Victoria Elliott), a recently single, free-spirited, adventurous aunt and the polar opposite of her sister.
Most of the musical is sung by the cast, accompanied by a seven-piece band positioned at the rear of the stage. The set, designed by Chloe Lamford, begins as a modern timber house that cleverly flattens into a kitchen. Steve is trying to keep the roof over their heads both literally and figuratively.
Nicky enters a writing competition to win a family holiday. She writes not only about her family’s current quirks but also about how her parents first met on a camping trip. She wins a holiday to anywhere in the world, think the Caribbean, the Maldives, but she has a surprise in mind. Nicky bizarrely chooses to take the family back to the same campsite where Steve and Yvonne met, hoping to rekindle their falling in love and bring the family back together. Predictably, English weather plays its part in spoiling the plan.
Directed by Vicky Featherstone, the production has all the right ingredients. Unfortunately, this is where the problems begin. The Playhouse Elephant is a modern, small theatre, but the music often overwhelms the dialogue. Act One offers some amusing and witty moments for each cast member.
My main issues came in Act Two. The play is scheduled to run for two hours, including an interval, but overran by about ten minutes. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the BBC sitcom My Family, which ran for 11 years with 120 episodes. That show also featured a chaotic household with a mad teenage son and daughter—so this premise isn’t particularly original, though here it’s taken to greater extremes. The plot moves toward a predictable happy ending, with revelations, growth, and reconciliations. Unfortunately, it felt dull and in need of tighter editing.
The actors performed their roles competently, but overall, I left the theatre disappointed
Malcolm Beckett has been reviewing theatre since 2017
Production Notes
This Is My Family
Book and Music by Tim Firth
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Cast
Starring:
Michael Jibson
Gemma Whelan
Gay Soper
Nancy Allsop
Lucy Lambert
Victoria Elliott
Creatives
Director: Vicky Featherstone
Set Designer: Chloe Lamford
Costume Designer: Ethan Cheek
Movement Director: Chi-San Howard
Musical Supervisor: Caroline Humpris
Lighting Designer: Lee Curran
Sound Designer: Dominic Bilkey
Arrangements and Orchestrations: Caroline Humpris
Musical Director: Natalie Pound
Information
Running Time: Two hours 30 minutes with an interval
Booking until 12th July 2025
Theatre:
Southwark Playhouse Elephant
Dante Place
80 Newington Butts
London, SE11 4FL
Box Office enquiries:
boxoffice@southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Tube/Rail : Elephant and Castle
Telephone: 020 7407 0234
Website: southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Reviewed by Malcolm Beckett
at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant on 10th April 2025