one4review | On 29, Aug 2026

Proclaiming to be a revolutionary and first-of-its-kind production, the slightly clunkily-named The Eight Faces of Ellie Morrison is a dramatic play that blends Mixed Martial Arts into the performance.

The show tells the story of the Morrison siblings, promising but uninspired MMA fighter Luke and rising rockstar Ellie. The two haven’t always seen eye to eye, not least because of Ellie’s erratic nature, but the two come together when a joint contract with an international fighting promotion means they could both be moving to the big time. However, in the lead up to his first big fight, Luke isn’t sure he’s ready and Ellie is spiraling into substance abuse and it’s unclear which, if either, of them will be able to make it as a star.

The show ends with a truly thrilling and fantastic display of the promised MMA fighting, and it’s to the credit of all on stage how real and forceful the punches, kicks, grapples and takedowns feel. The choreography is entirely convincing and is only complimented by live commentary and the onstage ring and even an in-ring ref. The only issue is that it does feel like this scene comes a little too late.

This show marks the playwriting debut of Sam Beeson, who also stars as Luke, and he clearly has writing talent, but his storytelling lacks a little experience which is most evident in the pacing. Luke and Ellie’s story is completely functional and, while Beeson and Stephee Bonifacio, who plays Ellie, do a convincing job as the two siblings, it’s impossible to ignore that the dramatic plot is quite cookie cutter and predictable. In particular the first scene drags, spending a lot of time setting up characters and situations that could have been covered by a couple of lines of dialogue and the show is already half way done by the time Beeson first puts on a pair of gloves.

For a show so proud – and rightfully so – of its innovative use of stage combat, it’s a shame that it’s all reserved for the later parts of the play. If the show had started with some punching, really hammering home how impressive it is – hell, if the whole thing had taken place inside the makeshift ring ropes, then the whole show would have had a lot more energy. I also think that the choice of telling a very dramatic story between the two siblings isn’t necessarily the right sort of tone for this MMA/theatre blend. I kept thinking about how the pro-wrestling theatre show Mythos: Ragnarok had given itself a larger than life story of warring gods to allow many excuses for people to start wailing on each other and that maybe a similar conceit would work with Beeson’s new style.

A show that is certainly a good proof of concept of a remarkable new approach to performance, even if the story it tells is a little generic.

***1/2
Reviewed by Tom
Greenside
Until 29 August