Filled with love, joy, warmth and care, ‘Perfect Show for Rachel’ is a brilliant antidote to all that can seem stuffy and exclusionary about traditional theatre.
Rachel O’Mahony is a funny, cheeky and personable woman who suffers from learning disabilities. Flo O’Mahony is artistic director of theatre company Zoo Co, but, more importantly for this play, Rachel’s sister. Having noticed one day the relish with which her sister gave her directions whilst she drove, Flo came to reflect that Rachel, who lives in a care home, has too little autonomy in most of her life.
Having a background in improvised theatre, she came to wonder if Rachel’s charisma and desire to regain control of her destiny could be harnessed on the stage. ‘Perfect Show for Rachel’ is the extraordinary product of her bold idea and the meticulous planning of her and the show’s impressive ensemble cast, which includes Flo, mixed with the wit and admirable impulsivity of its inspiration.
As she makes clear before the show proper begins, Flo’s handing of the reins to her sister is wholehearted and unashamed. By her own choice, Rachel does not perform on stage, but does have a seat towards its side from which she determines everything that unfolds; her title of director is far from being a merely honorary one.
In order to give Rachel valuable tactile feedback and a clear feeling of control, she is seated at a desk with fifty buttons, each of which correspond to a scene of some kind she can choose to watch which has been designed to suit her fun and varied tastes. These can include scripted elements, physical theatre, music and even audience participation segments.
Exactly what Rachel asks for is what is delivered by an empathetic, flexible and supremely skilled ensemble cast. If Rachel wants to stop and pause or even finish the show, then that is what happens. If Rachel wants to repeat the same scene over and over again, then that is what happens too. If Rachel wants to switch scenes every few seconds, then the cast and audience will have to adapt to this.
The result is riotous, chaotic, joyful and utterly life-affirming, but never, ever predictable.
As Flo and the cast would later tell me, even those closest to Rachel cannot fully know what to expect. As the programme notes promise, shows can be anything from 90 minutes of fart jokes to seventeen repeats of a video of Rachel riding her bike to an eclectic mix of styles of scene.
The performance I attended fell into the latter camp, including two audience participation segments, a pub fight (twice!), jokes and a whole range of music from ‘Hallelujah’ to Kylie Minogue performed by an impressively multi-talented cast. What really shines through, though, is Rachel’s infectious personality and the joy she so obviously garners from the audience being invited into, in fact unapologetically forced into, her world.
It is not just Rachel who so obviously has fun. Cast member Becky Barry, also a live BSL interpreter, would later describe how freeing she found the impossibility of predicting the form the show would take and how it forced those involved to live entirely in the moment. The rest of the performers (which, when invited onto the stage by Rachel, include her mother and carer) clearly love the experience, and I have been in few audiences clearly so obviously touched and impressed by what they witness on stage.
Shorn of pretentiousness and facilitating such a direct and mutually beneficial relationship between audience, performers and director, ‘Perfect Show for Rachel’ is theatre in its purest, rawest and most powerful form. Leeds may be the final stop on this excellent show’s tour, but this inclusive, empowering and above all fun model of theatre-making must surely be the future.
Perfect Show for Rachel runs at the Leeds Playhouse until Saturday 6 June 2026. Full details and tickets here.
This post was written by reader Claude Gillham in return for two free tickets, as part of South Leeds Goes To The Playhouse.
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