one4review | On 21, Aug 2025

Once Upon a Bridge is a taut, finely crafted piece of theatre that takes as its starting point a shocking real-life incident and turns it into a study of chance, choice, and consequence. Based on the notorious moment in 2017 when a woman was pushed by a jogger into the path of a bus on Putney Bridge, Sonya Kelly’s play imagines what brought three strangers – the jogger, the bus driver, and the woman – to that very point in time.

The staging is stripped back to three chairs, but the simplicity only heightens the intensity. With no distractions, every gesture and every word counts. The dramatic tension is palpable throughout, as the narrative shifts between perspectives, gradually weaving together a picture of ordinary lives colliding in extraordinary, and near-tragic, fashion.

Claire Louise Moss is compelling as the young woman, nervous but hopeful as she heads to an interview at a law firm. Gurmej Vik brings depth and humanity to the bus driver, a family man constantly looking over his shoulder, terrified of losing his job under the management’s relentless obsession with timekeeping and surveillance. Luke Willis captures the tightly wound energy of the jogger – driven, restless, and brittle under the weight of his own ambitions.

Despite the occasional audible sound from surrounding theatres and the courtyard, the three actors hold the audience completely. For the duration of the play, they keep us in the palm of their hands, building tension until the final moment. A short but riveting piece, Once Upon a Bridge is a reminder of how a single instant can alter lives forever and is unmissable.

*****

Reviewed by Rona

theSpace@Surgeons Hall

2pm

Until 23rd August