The first notices are in for Fire Fire, John Webber’s two-hander about class and the climate, which opened at the Arcola Theatre on Friday 11 September 2026. Gabrielle Brooks plays Paige, a middle-class queer activist of Nigerian heritage; Chris Simmons plays Eddie, a retired Essex oil worker scattering his brother’s ashes. They meet by accident in a country park, and keep meeting. Eleven outlets have filed so far. The two performances are the one thing every critic agrees on, and Jennifer Tang’s direction, Peiyao Wang’s set and Charly Dunford’s lighting are praised almost as widely. The split is over the final third, when the argument gives way to drumming, visions and summoned spirits — bracing to some, a retreat from the debate to others.
The verdict: eleven reviews so far — two four-star notices, five three-star, two two-star, and two outlets that publish no rating. Across the nine that score it, the average is exactly 3 out of 5. Every critic praises Gabrielle Brooks and Chris Simmons; almost every one of them has a reservation about where the play goes after the interval-less hour mark.
What are critics saying about Fire Fire?
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Heidi Downing
“At its core, this is a serious play about contemporary issues, yet Webber’s script is so cleverly crafted that audiences can’t quite help themselves laughing throughout scenes when witnessing particularly awkward encounters and misunderstandings between these two characters. It is of great merit for Brooks and Simmons to be able to hold the audience’s attention so fully to tackle the weight of a script about climate crisis and responsibility, whilst also breaking up the tension to find the surprisingly comedic moments and never letting the comedic relief undermine the importance behind Fire Fire’s larger political messages.”
North West End
Reviewer: Gaurav Singh Nijjer
“There is something genuinely fiery about Fire Fire. Over its 80-minute runtime, the production sustains an extraordinary sense of urgency, not simply through the writing but through the physical and vocal energy of Gabrielle Brooks and Chris Simmons. Conversations arrive at a blistering pace, with exchanges that feel as though they have been waiting to happen. The intensity is felt in the bodies of the two performers as much as in the words they speak.”
The Reviews Hub
Reviewer: Jane Darcy
“Fire Fire certainly wants us to applaud, with a dramatic final scene in which the pair start to drum and summon up the spirits they revere. But to be honest, despite its good intentions, Fire Fire feels contrived. With its reliance on a panoply of pagan deities and practices, it seems as if Webber is trying to write another Jerusalem, with Eddie an incarnation of Jez Butterworth’s Rooster Byron. Eddie’s treasured golden cigarette lighter in Fire Fire, in particular, cannot but recall the cigarette lighter with which Mark Rylance as Rooster created such unexpected magic.”
Morning Star
Reviewer: Mary Conway
“The scenario is both familiar and deeply depressing. But what marks the show out is the excellent acting of Chris Simmons as Eddy and Gabrielle Brooks as Paige. Under the confident and skilled direction of Jennifer Tang, the two actors bring us truly accomplished performances that exploit the small theatre and give us up-close, in-depth character insight. We would expect no less: Simmons has an extensive TV pedigree, while Brooks’ impressive West End career includes a Laurence Olivier nomination.”
The Spy in the Stalls
“There is a lot of potential in this premise, particularly in the way it brings together questions of class, climate, grief and personal responsibility. However, the play sometimes gets caught in a succession of events that leaves little room for the audience to pause and reflect. The stakes are high almost from the beginning, and as they continue to escalate, there are few opportunities to simply sit with the characters or allow their relationship to develop at a quieter pace. The result can feel emotionally tiring rather than increasingly affecting.”
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Brad
“The conversation immediately hits all the familiar territory. The protests are targeting the wrong people but if they weren't disruptive no one would pay attention etc. The crux of it all is that a majority of activists are middle class and that working-class people, like Eddie and his family, are the ones both paying the price for the protests themselves and then also the knock-on changes implemented by them. Failure on both sides to unify against a common enemy leads to argumentative dysfunction. That’s where the debate stops, earlier than expected.”
“The play that highlights lack of learning from the past will lead to a despairing future, but it's structured not wholly as a debate play and more of a spiritual experience. Flashbacks, visions and dreams affect the pair, there's discussion of tribal warriors, earth gods and ancient burial grounds. The earth itself communing with them in the holy place that is nature.”
BroadwayWorld
“New play that veers off in an unfortunate direction and loses much of its punch as a consequence”
Reviewer: Gary Naylor
“The problem comes from what they say, the direction in which the narrative turns. The play veers into metaphysical discussions of ancient pagan religions, the lost indigenous cultures of the British Isles and West Africa and a veneration of a more authentic Albion now gone forever. If I did not care for such meanderings in Jerusalem, I’m not going to care much for them in Fire Fire either.”
London Pub Theatres
“Too many un-focussed ideas”
Reviewer: Paul Maidment
“Both performers work hard and well. As Paige, Gabrielle Brooks (so good a few years back in Get Up, Stand Up!) is a little too one note whilst Chris Simmons’ Eddie has greater depth and you believe his lived experiences. Indeed, all the best bits are when they are talking to one another. Much less good are the singular turns to the audience and as we head towards the climax, the whole thing just becomes muddled and slightly baffling - too many themes, too many metaphors and it’s also about 20 minutes too long. Attempts at humour don’t land and the moments which should move the audience didn’t work for me I’m afraid.”
British Theatre Guide
Reviewer: Keith Mckenna
“The play illustrates, with believable characters, the way grief can turn into anger, which in turn can sometimes shift uneasily between taking protest action and despair. What is less believable is the pair in one scene taking the trouble to call on loads of spirits, including Gaia (the personification of the earth), to join them in the struggle.”
On In London
Reviewer: Caitlin Neal
“Although the play is set in the 2040s, with a proposed food‑rationing bill and tightening government controls, I left feeling that Fire Fire is ultimately more about loss and grief than climate change. Eddie’s story is the most clearly drawn: a man shaped by decades in the oil industry and carrying the weight of his brother’s death, with the long‑term impact of industrial work woven through his arc. Paige’s past is revealed more gradually, and we do come to understand her, especially as she starts to recognise echoes in her own identity she hadn’t anticipated, but the play doesn’t develop them enough for her journey to land with the same force.”
Production photographs by Mark Senior.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Dave Fargnoli, three stars, “Thought-provoking”), whose review sits behind a paywall. Its rating was read first-hand and is counted in the average above.
More critics’ verdicts, gathered in one place: our roundups for Night City at Southwark Playhouse Borough and Man to Man at the Royal Court Theatre. We will add to this page as further reviews of Fire Fire appear.
Fire Fire runs at the Arcola Theatre, Dalston, until Saturday 3 October 2026, and then tours 16 venues across the East of England, Brighton and Birmingham.
