Expert Review: Theatre at Its Most Human and Most Formally Adventurous
The Verdict
There is a moment in Tao of Glass when Phelim McDermott is juggling — keeping several objects moving through the air with practised ease — and talking about his father. The connection between the two things is not explained or underscored; it simply exists, and you feel it. This is the quality that distinguishes the work: its capacity to hold disparate elements in the air simultaneously, and to find in that act something genuinely revelatory about how we live with loss. McDermott is an extraordinary performer, and this show is among the most rewarding theatrical experiences currently in London.
What Makes It Special
- Genuine Formal Originality: The show defies easy categorisation — simultaneously autobiographical memoir, circus performance, essay on Taoist philosophy, and meditation on grief. Its hybridity is not a gimmick but an argument: that form and content should find each other organically.
- Real Emotional Stakes: McDermott's honesty about personal loss gives the show a vulnerability and authenticity that is rare in any art form. He is genuinely working through something — and the audience is taken with him.
- Virtuosity in Service of Meaning: The juggling and physical skills are not decorative — they carry the show's emotional and philosophical content. Watching objects held and released becomes a direct expression of the Taoist ideas McDermott explores.
- @sohoplace as Perfect Setting: London's newest full-size theatre provides a flexible, technically sophisticated environment for a work that requires precise control of space, light, and sound.
Perfect For
Audiences who want their theatre to surprise them and offer experiences unavailable elsewhere. Fans of physical performance and circus who want their work to have genuine intellectual and emotional depth. Anyone who has experienced loss and is looking for art that takes that experience seriously. And theatregoers seeking work that stays with them long after the performance ends.
Everything You Need to Know
What is Tao of Glass?
Tao of Glass is a solo performance by Phelim McDermott that combines juggling and physical skills, spoken memoir, music, and Taoist philosophical reflection into a single continuous experience. It is not a conventional narrative — there is no plot in the ordinary sense — but it has an emotional arc that builds towards something genuinely moving and wise.
The Personal Material
McDermott draws on his own experience of losing his father to explore how we hold things — people, memories, attachments — and what it means to let them go. The autobiographical content is specific enough to feel real and universal enough to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss. The vulnerability of a solo performer talking honestly about his father is itself part of the work's meaning.
The Physical Language
Juggling — the constant movement of objects through the air, the rhythm of catching and releasing — becomes the show's central metaphor. The title's reference to glass speaks to fragility and transparency: we hold things carefully because they might break; we let them go because we must. McDermott works through these ideas not by explaining them but by enacting them, and the effect is considerably more powerful than any discursive approach could achieve.
The Taoist Thread
Taoism — the Chinese philosophical tradition associated with flexibility, flow, and the acceptance of change — runs through the show as an organising principle rather than a lesson to be delivered. McDermott's engagement with Taoist ideas is genuine and lived rather than academic, and the show offers a way of thinking about impermanence that is comforting without being sentimental.
The Experience of Watching
The show runs without interval for 1 hour 45 minutes, and the unbroken duration is part of its cumulative power. Audiences are asked to surrender to the work's rhythm rather than to follow a conventional dramatic structure. Those who do will find themselves arriving somewhere unexpected — a state of attention that is simultaneously calm and intensely alert.
About Phelim McDermott and Improbable
Improbable Theatre
Phelim McDermott is co-founder and co-artistic director of Improbable, the celebrated British theatre company he established with Julian Crouch in 1996. Improbable is known for work that refuses genre boundaries, combining visual imagination, physical performance, improvisation, and personal material in ways that consistently surprise and move audiences. Productions including Shockheaded Peter, Satyagraha at the Metropolitan Opera, and Lifegame have established the company as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary British theatre.
Tao of Glass in Context
Tao of Glass represents a particular strand of McDermott's work — the solo performance that draws directly on personal experience and Taoist philosophy. The show developed over several years and toured internationally before its London run, attracting widespread critical acclaim at each stage. Critics have praised its quality of earned wisdom — the sense that the philosophical ideas in the show have been genuinely lived with rather than merely read about.
The International Tour
The show has been performed across Europe and beyond, adapting to different spaces and audiences while maintaining the intimacy that is essential to its effect. The @sohoplace engagement brings it to one of London's most technically sophisticated new theatres, allowing the production's design — sparse but precisely calibrated — to be realised in optimal conditions.
Critical Reception
Reviews have consistently identified the show as an example of theatre operating at its most essential and most distinctive — work that could only exist on a stage, that uses live presence as its primary tool, and that creates an experience of shared attention that the audience recognises as genuinely rare. Several critics have described it as the best thing they saw in the year of their viewing.
Performance Schedule
- Opening Night: 24 July 2026
- Final Performance: 12 September 2026
- Evenings: Monday–Saturday, 7:30pm
- Matinees: Selected dates (check when booking)
- Running Time: Approximately 1 hour 45 minutes — no interval
Please Note: No Interval
The show runs continuously for approximately 1 hour 45 minutes without a break. This is a deliberate artistic decision integral to the work's cumulative effect. Audiences are asked to remain seated throughout. Please plan accordingly before you arrive.
Age Guidance & Content Warnings
Recommended for ages 12+
The show deals thoughtfully with themes of grief, loss, and impermanence. There is nothing disturbing in its approach, but the subject matter requires a degree of emotional maturity to engage with fully.
Getting There
- Tube: Tottenham Court Road (Central, Elizabeth lines) – 2 minute walk
- Alternative tubes: Oxford Circus (7 mins), Covent Garden (8 mins)
- Buses: Numerous routes along Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road, and Shaftesbury Avenue
@sohoplace
London's newest full-size theatre, @sohoplace opened in 2022 at 1 Soho Place, London W1D 3BG — directly adjacent to Tottenham Court Road station. Purpose-built with state-of-the-art staging and technical facilities, the venue's flexible design allows productions to configure the space in multiple ways. Its location at the heart of the West End makes it exceptionally easy to reach from anywhere in central London.
Accessibility
@sohoplace is a fully accessible purpose-built venue with step-free access throughout. Audio-described, captioned, and relaxed performances are available on selected dates. Contact the box office for detailed accessibility information.
Ticket Prices
Tickets typically range from approximately £20 for restricted-view seats to £60 for premium positions. As a more specialist production, tickets are available at more accessible price points than many West End shows — making this an excellent opportunity to see exceptional work at reasonable cost.