Sam Harvey reviews Eureka Day at the Nottingham Playhouse - a satirical take on parenting in the modern US.
Last week the Nottingham Playhouse hosted the regional premiere of Eureka Day and what a gloriously messy, hilarious, and discomfortingly sharp ride it was. At first glance, this feels like a satire of earnest liberal parenting, but under the laughter lies a ruthless dissection of misinformation, groupthink, and how 'progressive' language can be weaponised.
The show opens in the sunlit, idealistic corridors of Eureka Day Elementary, a school in a self-image-steeped enclave where inclusivity is everything and no voice is to be excluded… until a mumps outbreak disrupts the utopia. As the Executive Committee of parents and teachers convenes to decide policy, consensus is king. But as sides are drawn, language becomes a battlefield, and hidden agendas claw their way into polite speech.
What’s especially cunning here is how the production juggles big themes: misinformation, conflict resolution, and the sly way activists (or self-styled activists) can manipulate progressive rhetoric to advance their own misinformed agendas. The cast and direction refuse the easy route of caricature: instead, they show that almost everyone in that room is trying, failing, and rationalising. The more the group insists on 'hearing all voices,' the more that cracks appear.
One of the most audacious and brilliantly staged moments comes in a live-onstage recreation of a Zoom meeting (something I’m sure we’re all familiar with in a post Covid world). As the characters struggle to maintain order, the projected chat messages spill across the back wall, mocking, trolling, derailing - with the frequent thumbs up from good old Leslie. It’s pure chaos, and it feels so authentic: in that moment the show captures the frenetic energy of actual group video calls, when private comments, side chatter, and off-camera rage upend any attempt at civil order. That silent chat stream is as much a character (and a comedian) as those physically on stage, joyously amplifying the absurdity and tension. The writing is a commandment: the invisible voices are just as crucial to the drama as the visible ones.
It forces you to squirm, to question whether your own convictions might hide flaws, and to admit that sometimes good intentions make the mess worse
Yet the comedy never lets the stakes slip. The humour is quick, sharp, often biting, and it folds around reveals of trauma, guilt, emotional breakdowns. Scenes shift from broad satire to sudden heartbreak with a deftness that jolts you. In one moment, you’re guffawing at a tortured discussion over contract wording, and in the next you’re watching someone admit a lifelong wound. That tonal agility is what makes Eureka Day more than a sermon, it’s a living, breathing crack in the veneer of progressive certainty.
Among the standouts, Matt Gavan as Eli was magnetic. He brimmed with the frenetic, well-meaning, though sometimes exasperating, energy of a parent who thinks values can be negotiated with logic alone. But he also carried poignancy: when crises intensify, Gavan lets us glimpse the heartbreak beneath the drive for righteousness. He can annoy and move you in the same breath. Jenna Russell, as Suzanne, is equally compelling. In the early stages she seems eager, inclusive, ever-accommodating. But as tension builds, her transformation into someone more manipulative (while still insisting she’s just being fair) felt chilling. Watching her dig in was fascinating. Jonathan Coy as Don, the committee’s linchpin, tries to hold all sides in place as alliances polarise. His interventions, his exasperation, his attempts at mediation (and occasional capitulation) are hilarious to watch, but always grounded in a sense of a man trying not to break even as the room fractures.
The design and direction support the chaos without descending into noise. Scenes feel tight and focused even as the emotional stakes escalate. The multimedia elements (chat, projections, timing) are integrated rather than tacked on. The show doesn’t let you forget that in today’s public sphere, arguments unfold on multiple fronts: spoken, typed, side-conspicuous.
In short: Eureka Day is riotous, bruising, timely. It forces you to squirm, to question whether your own convictions might hide flaws, and to admit that sometimes good intentions make the mess worse. If you ever thought consensus was safe, or that progressive language is above misuse, this play will disabuse you in the sharpest way. Bravo to the cast and crew for reminding us that the road to social harmony is paved with unresolved tensions, missteps, and dark laughter.
Eureka Day shows at the Nottingham Playhouse from Tue 4 November to Sat 15 November
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
