Sheila’s Island
Susanna Greenwood
28 May 2026
Sheila’s Island was originally conceived as Neville’s Island, a play by Tim Firth of Calendar Girls fame, which followed four businessmen on a corporate away day that goes awry. Here, the concept, character traits, and plot are revisited, but the businessmen are replaced with businesswomen.
The story follows ‘Captain’ Sheila, sarcastic Denise, overly prepared Julie and the outsider Fay as they make rudimentary attempts at survival in a comedic ‘Lord of the Flies’ after becoming marooned on a small island. As they await rescue, the realisation of just how poorly prepared they are begins to sink in and tensions rise. What starts as a light-hearted adventure soon exposes personal insecurities, hidden resentments, and the fragile nature of teamwork, resulting in an often-hilarious exploration of human behaviour under pressure. The positive, work-friendly exteriors soon give way to confrontation and criticism as their work masks slip and professional politeness sails away.
The play was performed at Poulner Scout Hall, which provided an intimate setting that worked well for the production. The set had been thoughtfully designed with some quirky island features, including a stream running from the front to the back of the stage that the actors continually had to cross or jump over. Dianne Archer, playing Fay, had a number of visually effective scenes staged at the top of a tree and managed the quick transitions in and out of these scenes very impressively. Credit was also due to scenic artists Mary Hyde and Joh Kennedy-Wall, who created a beautiful hand-painted island backdrop.
The technical elements added greatly to the atmosphere of the production. The lighting and sound effects effectively captured the isolation of the island and heightened both the comedic moments and the characters’ growing unease within their environment. Subtle changes in lighting reflected the shifts in mood throughout the play and combined with sound enhanced the audience’s sense of being stranded alongside the characters.
This was very much an ensemble piece and relied heavily on the chemistry and timing between the four actors. The cast did a great job, made even more impressive by the fact that this was the first named role for two members of the cast.
Rhianna Au-Webb played manager Sheila with warmth and compassion and did well to show glimpses of the bubbling undercurrent of frustration beneath her attempts to smooth relations between the other three and keep things professional. Rhianna effectively displayed the nervous energy of someone battling to keep control of everyone and everything. She also brought some lovely physicality to the role, along with a nervous laugh that demonstrated Sheila’s growing unease as the crisis developed.
Stephanie Edwards, as the no-nonsense Denise, arguably had some of the best lines in the play, delivering sarcastic put-downs that provided much of the humour, particularly in Act One. Stephanie played the role superbly, with great timing and wonderfully expressive facial reactions.
Annie Seelan played Julie and was convincing as the practical and organised member of the stranded group. As the play progressed, we saw Julie become more vulnerable as her personal insecurities were brought to the surface, and there were some well-played confrontations between her and Stephanie’s Denise. Annie was occasionally prone to corpsing, which I put down to first-night nerves, and she did well to recover without causing disruption.
In the play, Fay is the most eccentric of the four women, and Dianne Archer’s performance captured this brilliantly with an energetic and engaging characterisation that combined exuberant positivity with an underlying sweet vulnerability. You would not have known from this performance that this was Dianne’s first speaking role, as she remained confident and charismatic throughout.
There were a handful of first-night wobbles, including some lost lines and as mentioned moments of corpsing, and Act One felt a little long in places. However, overall, these four were fabulous together and made for a strong ensemble team.
Special mention should also go to the designer of the programme, which had been thoughtfully put together and made for a fun, stylised read during the interval. It also served me well as a fan in the heatwave!
Overall, director Scott Douglas has created a cohesive ensemble performance that captures both the humour and emotion of the play. The production runs until 30th May and I would recommend it - perhaps as a fun team night out with your colleagues, although be prepared not to look at each other in quite the same way again!
