Don't You Forget About Me ⭐⭐

“A Brain, An Athlete, A Basket Case, A Princess and a Criminal all walk into detention one 1985 Saturday morning. You know the story. Or so you thought... Forty years later, the forgotten sixth student hosts a reunion and we're all invited. Part homage, part identity crisis, this sharp, witty, nostalgic love letter to John Hughes' iconic 1980s film is dedicated to anyone who ever wished life felt more like the movies.”

David Shopland and Roann Hassani McCloskey's direction is my biggest frustration with the production. The space is used, but the movement doesn't always feel motivated. There is a lot of pacing around the stage, and I frequently found myself wondering why the character was moving from one side of the space to the other. Movement on stage needs to tell us something, change the dynamic, or provide theatrical punctuation. Here, too often, it simply feels like movement for movement's sake. There are moments when the staging settles, and the show becomes much more compelling, which makes the lack of purpose in some of the movement even more noticeable.

The lighting is simple and safe. It does the job, but I wanted more. For a show so heavily rooted in nostalgia, memory and the visual language of 1980s cinema, there is an opportunity to create a much more distinctive visual world. Instead, the lighting largely stays within a fairly predictable range. Nothing is particularly wrong with it; it just doesn't add enough.

However, like the lighting, there was an opportunity to do considerably more with the soundscape, particularly given how important music and pop culture are to the world that the production is attempting to recreate. This also applies to the set design; they could have gone further.

David Shopland's writing is where the production most noticeably struggles. The book is clearly building toward something. The problem is that I was never entirely sure what that something was. The premise is strong: take the forgotten sixth student from The Breakfast Club and ask what happens when the person who didn't get a place in the iconic story looks back forty years later. That could be fascinating. It might be about the dangers of sentimental longing. It could be about wanting to matter. It could be about the stories we tell ourselves. It could be about what happens when you spend your life comparing yourself to fictional versions of other people's lives.

And, occasionally, it touches all of those things. But it never quite settles on one. The result is a script that feels like it is searching for its destination while the audience waits for it to arrive. There are some enjoyable jokes and some nice nostalgic touches, but the overall story lacks the dramatic momentum needed to keep us invested. I wanted the show to dig further into its central idea rather than continually circling it. For a piece about being forgotten, unfortunately, there were occasions when the writing itself felt rather forgettable.

David Shopland gives a lovely performance. There is a genuine charm to him, and he clearly knows how to hold an audience's attention as a solo performer. There are moments where we see flashes of a much more layered character, somebody wrestling with wistfulness, insecurity and the feeling that his life hasn't quite turned out the way he imagined. However, those moments don't develop as fully as they could. The performance remains largely on the surface, giving us an enjoyable character without letting us fully understand the deeper emotional machinery underneath him. Shopland is clearly capable of more. I just wanted the production to give him more opportunities to show it.

DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME starts with a genuinely intriguing question: What happens to the person who wasn't part of the story everyone remembers? That's a fantastic starting point. Unfortunately, the show never quite turns that question into a satisfying theatrical journey. That nostalgia is there. The references are there. David Shopland is an engaging performer. But the direction feels overly busy without always having purpose, the technical design is safe rather than distinctive, and the writing doesn't seem entirely sure what it ultimately wants to say. I just wanted considerably more of that. For a show inspired by one of the most recognisable coming-of-age films ever made, DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME unfortunately feels like it is still waiting for its own coming-of-age moment.

DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME plays at Assembly Roxy, Downstairs (Venue 139) at 14:20, from 5–30 August 2026, excluding 17 and 24 August.

🎟️ Book tickets here for DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME