Cleansed ★★ Almeida Theatre | Jul 21 - Aug 29, 2026


In 1897 Oscar Méténier founded the Grand Guignol in Paris. In 1898 under Max Maurey the theatre became famous for its plays featuring fear, madness, torture, and murder. The theatre specialised in elaborate special effects, including: realistic severed limbs, flowing fake blood, eye gouging, decapitations, acid attacks, surgical operations and torture scenes. It became the precursor of today's splatter films or slasher flicks. The Almeida's current production of Cleansed seems to be an extension of this tradition. The plot is slight and the characters are barely developed. In an institutional setting, a madman who calls himself a doctor tortures people including a gay couple and a young woman whose brother has died in his "care". When the doctor is not busy with maiming and dismembering, he masturbates while watching some sort of Only Fans outlet which features a sultry young woman. Cleansed is gory, gruesome and grotesque. It wallows in graphic depictions of incest and cruelty. However, it does have an amazing field of daffodils. The latter is an extraordinary construction and, perhaps the most intriguing feature of the production. It is probably meant to suggest the peace achieved by the characters' through death, but there is no such release for the audience and the accumulation of horrors ultimately works against the play. While at first the brutal goings-on may be shocking, their piling-on leads to an emotional numbing which ultimately results in boredom. Cleansed might have some appeal for fans of the Grand Guignol, but it unfortunately lacks the elements of suspense, surprise and emotional engagement that usually give the horror genre some interest.

Rated: ★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Marc Brenner

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Almeida St, London N1 1TA, UK

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