Tonsils + Tweezers (Old Fitz) ★★★★

Written by Will O’Mahony. Sharehouse Production Company. Old Fitz Theatre. 17-27 Feb, 2026.

The new lo-fi production of Will O’Mahony’s Tonsils + Tweezers (part of the Old Fitz’s Late Night programme) practically fizzes with energy. From the second you walk into the theatre to the final bow, this little play is more kinetic than anything else I’ve seen this year so far… another Late Night winner.

Tonsils (Ariyan Sharma) is already playing guessing games with the audience. The show hasn’t technically started; the crowd is still drifting in from the bar, but the tunes are banging and Tonsils commands the stage like a circus ringmaster. Once the doors shut, we meet his best mate Lewis (Victor Y Z Xu), aka Tweezers. Then Tonsils drops an omniscient time bomb: in ten minutes, Tweezers is going to ask, “Tonsils, ever wanted to kill someone?”

What follows is a whip-smart, timey-wimey journey through teenage mistakes and twenty-something anger, laced with dark humour. O’Mahony’s self-aware script plants clues and warnings while winking at the audience, carefully doling out information and daring us to keep up. The pleasure lies in watching the pieces click into place.

The beauty of it all lies in the power of simple, clear storytelling. As part of the Fitz’s Late Night programme, Tonsils + Tweezers is performed on the set of the main show, Es & Flo. Yet this constraint doesn’t stop director Lucy Rossen from throwing everything she has at the material, deploying a cornucopia of papier-mâché props, puppets and lighting tricks – and, most importantly, drawing four performances that contain multitudes.

The night belongs to the effervescent Sharma, who narrates and teases us through the story while also appearing bound by the somewhat metaphysical rules of the game. His Puck-like Tonsils never says as much as he knows, and it’s clear there is control and compassion beneath the chaos. Opposite him, Xu’s Tweezers is brooding and murky. Is he capable of violence? Is this a story of redemption or revenge? Xu keeps us guessing, hiding intent behind wounded eyes and a challenging smirk.

They’re joined by Toby Carey as Max, a school bully who’s grown into a middle manager trying to learn the lines to Macbeth, and Caitlin Green as Beth, Max’s co-star and occasional ethereal storyteller. Despite being supporting roles, both Carey and Green deliver layered performances alive with subtext.

At the start of any show, there’s often a flicker of “okay, what have I let myself in for?” – especially with low-budget independent or fringe work. But despite this being the debut production of a company I’d never heard of, featuring actors largely unfamiliar to me (Carey was the only one I recognised, from the excellent All Boys at KXT), and a play I knew nothing about, I felt an immediate sense of assurance.

From the moment I sat down, I thought, “Oh, they’ve got this,” and settled into the mental and emotional space to relax and take in the wild ride. That takes skill. It’s the mark of assured direction and confident performers. Combine that with a “throw everything at the stage” approach to storytelling and you’ve got a scrappy winner.

Tonsils + Tweezers runs for just 65 minutes, but it’s packed with story, style and a dark joyfulness well worth seeking out.