Theatre 118, Glasgow
12th Nov, 2025
Visiting Glasgow centre in the evening is a romantic affair, on an unusually dry winter night we made our way to a company called Theatre 118 who are a young and already entrepreneurial enterprise. The hour-long show was split into two halves one by Will and one by Tess. It was a live performance of youthful skill and pride exhumed between these lovers of theatre.
The venues door stands on its own round the back of beyond right about in the centre. As we climbed the stairs we started to get excited, not realizing the size of room we were about to walk into, it was a massive office space. Groups and social chat prevailed in this more than intimate night, and performance was for the buzz word, already peaking interest for me and my press officer.
In good time we were ushered into this experimentally atmospheric theatre space partitioned with a black cloak. The seats didn’t number more than 50, and so increased the sense of intimacy and interestingly the stage and props were minimal.
First on was poet Will, breaking down the night’s introduction, bonding with audience, a shadowy meditation and a dark comment of command over our souls. His beat pop poetry sped by, flittering on subject upon subject and irony of self-flagellation. Holding up a comedic vein to his well thought out proceedings, his words of anguish and faith tying in well.
There was included something of a shamanistic vibe, though I don’t know if it was intended in his writing. But every word was original, his diction was a pleasure and we had good confidence in him, as actor, writer, leader.
This was my first introduction to the young delights of this theatre 118, who have fought hard but to their great credit have procured this massive space, an inclusively welcome and generous hub where the delights of theatre may stay well alive.
Will also alluded to nature and when Tess sprang on it turned to nature in the full. After a little break she infiltrated the stage. The night was for two but they performed on their own. She complimented in style a kind of furtherance of what Will had done before, with a great energy, carried this style into her own freshly written conundrums. A lot of which were farce and comedy, taking good laughs the two played very well, with their simple surroundings.
His and her references were built in different ways. The structures of Will were about problems, experience perhaps even giving good advice on what to do, and Tess stretched out more of the things one might like to avoid. This coupled activity went a long way in giving pleasure and meaning to an evening of good culture, concentration and connection.
Following the speedy utterances, quick vibe dialogues of poetry, debate, ultimately things wound up failing, he sank into his chair, his meditation done, his energy spent. She pranced with power that led her to solitude though not before lessons about her favourite love; trees. A three-way conversation took place that was perfectly done, was a great idea and wound up in a heartfelt exhibition of sharing meaningful information.
Daniel Donnelly
themumble.uk 