By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Monday 12 October, opens 20 October and runs through 28 November 2026 RUNTIME: 155 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

It’s the day of his nan’s funeral and impressionable 14-year-old Ted meets his mum’s gay best friend and suddenly his world doesn’t feel so lonely.

• Read on for reasons including how this is 1 of the best new plays of the year so far

Ted is the titular Ilford Boy and this play is very much about making sense of his chaotic east London family life growing up and discovering who he is, what his tribe is and where he fits in the world.

In a beautiful, full circle moment Ted, played by the very likeable Leo Whitfield Harris making his stage debut, sees Adrian Lester in 1995 in a performance of Sondheim’s Company at this very venue, the Donmar.

Author Danny Lee Wynter (BLACK SUPERHERO, Royal Court) explains in the programme: ‘At the heart of it is this man, Bobby, who is in flux. He’s being told lots of things about himself and he doesn’t quite know who he is or how to deal with it.

‘There’s a very similar parallel with Ted and how he is, or isn’t, dealing with who he is at the beginning of the play. Theatre becomes a way of meeting his own emotions. It’s like a new friend being introduced.’

We haven’t seen Ria Zmitrowicz (The Welkin, National Theatre) onstage for a while and here she’s very endearing as Ted’s brassy mum Tillie who has a complicated relationship with Ted’s father who’s trying to encourage him to take up more masculine pursuits.

Lindsey Coulson appears in flashback as nan Eileen who has her hands full with 3 daughters and Craig Stein’s camp dancer Patrick sheltering under her roof when things get too tough for him at his home.

It’s great to see a new play at the Donmar and Ilford Boy made us think of Beautiful Thing although this is far less about romance and more about discovering an influence that your soul needs.

Danny Lee Wynter didn’t quite manage it with BLACK SUPERHERO but Ilford Boy is more focused and successful and marks him out as a new writer to watch out for and be excited for his future work.

His next play has already been commissioned by the Almeida and we can’t wait to do see where he goes next.

1 of the best new plays of the year so far.

• Main pictures by via Facebook courtesy Donmar Warehouse Tickets
• Have you seen a Donmar show before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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