Precipice – New Diorama Theatre, London

Precipice is an ambitious, musically inventive new musical that, despite some limitations, tackles the end of the world with more honesty, humour and humanity than you’d expect from a two-hour show set in a Greenwich tower block.

Precipice

Precipice is a bold and heartfelt new musical from Timelapse, supported by New Diorama Theatre. One of the things that struck me early on was just how well-researched it feels. The bibliography in the programme is extensive – fiction, non-fiction, film, television. You can feel those influences running through the piece. For me, it carried very clear traces of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, and maybe a bit of Snowpiercer (the film, not the longer and more bloated series). But Precipice, although slightly derivative, builds its own dystopian reality, one that feels uncomfortably recognisable to Londoners. I did catch myself noting, slightly absurdly, that I might live within walking distance of an imagined safe haven should the world end any time soon. And equally surprised that a new-build shared ownership block could ever be the cradle of a new civilisation.

My cynicism aside, Precipice makes a fair point about the ways we protect ourselves from the world: gallows humour, avoidance, the occasional bout of denial. Theatre shortcuts straight through those barriers. And this show does it with a combination of plausible end-times and a memorable set of songs. The collapse of antibiotics and the escalating Climate Emergency form one part of the story. We see it unfold partly through Emily (Holly Freeman) and her partner Ash (Eric Stroud) in the near future, and partly centuries later, where Emily’s diary has become a kind of relic used in Founders Day – when the future community in this Greenwich tower block remembers why the world ended and why the balance they cling to matters.

Across both timelines, a thread emerges: speaking up, and the cost of doing so. Emily has to choose between her relationship and what she knows is right. Maggie (Isabella Marshall) and others in the future must weigh whether to tell their community truths no one really wants. The show never claims there’s a clean answer. It’s a call to action, but not a preachy one.

From Mudlarking to Monopoly

The musical side of Precipice is where it challenges the norms of musical theatre. The songs range from bleak to funny to unexpectedly tender. Subjects ranging from mudlarking to the end of the world to Monopoly, some landing better than others. But the electro-folk sound suits the material without overwhelming it. The cast handle the score well. They sing, play and move between characters with a clarity that keeps the stories moving even when the timelines threaten to blur. Max Alexander-Taylor (playing Biscuits) is particularly strong as a singer and musical performer (I would have liked a bit more opportunity to see his range as an actor), and Holly Freeman and Isabella Marshall give authentic and emotionally intelligent performances. Melinda Orengo and Eric Stroud round things off with the versatility you need when the ensemble is this small.

But beyond any individual performance, I did appreciate the extent to which Precipice is a risk-taking musical. And at this risk-averse time in the arts, that feels worth recognising even when not everything lands. New Diorama has a strong track record as an incubator of ambitious work (they’ve built a reputation on giving companies room to experiment) and Precipice sits within that lineage.

That said, this one feels not-quite-incubated. Mainly in the sense that it tries to cover a lot of ground in two hours. It’s juggling two timelines, several moral dilemmas and a world-ending crisis or two, and there are moments when you can feel the squeeze. A bit more development time, or a slight simplification of the story threads, wouldn’t be unwelcome. Probably the former, even though I’m normally very happy when a show comes in on the shorter side. Although frankly, with so many co-creators (Adam Lenson, Stu Barter, Rachel Bellman, Annabelle Lee Revak, Darren Clark, and Shaye Poulton Richards) I’m surprised there weren’t more ideas vying for attention.

Still, the ambition counts for a lot. Precipice is musically interesting, willing to push at the edges of what a new musical can sound like, and unafraid of asking uncomfortable questions. And, perhaps surprisingly, it offers a certain kind of comfort. The reminder that none of us is entirely sure how to face the impending end of the world. And that naming that uncertainty, or even singing it, might be one way to keep going.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 3/5

Precipice on until 13 December 2025. More info and tickets here.