Last Updated on March 22, 2025
Bittersweet Boy Scout two-hander comic tragedy
5.0 out of 5.0 starsUpstairs at Soho Theatre is a dark confined space with a low ceiling but New Yorkers Xhloe and Natasha burst in like a pair of comets to raise the roof. “A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson Or God: Whoever Reads This First” is one of two short plays that the duo are performing on alternate evenings at the vibrant Dean Street venue. They are three-time winners of The Scotsman Fringe First Award for these two plays and “And Then the Rodeo Burned Down” all of which premiered at Edinburgh Festival Fringe between 2022 and 2024.
Xhloe and Natasha have been working together for ten years and this shows: The trust and support you witness in their performance is akin to a pair of figure skaters throwing each other around with perfect poise. Their signature style riffs on clowning and semi-acrobat movement accompanied by rapid-fire poetic script. In A Letter To with only a giant tractor tyre and mouth organs for props, the pair bounce and jump around excitedly with sing-song delivery fixing our attention for the entire 65-minute run time.
Like its partner piece “What If They Ate The Baby?” featuring 1950s housewives, Letter to LBJ upturns the American Dream, this time with Boy Scouts destined to be drafted to Vietnam. Ace (Natasha Roland) and Grasshopper (Xhloe Rice) spring into the space as excited young scouts smeared with mud that serves as a foreshadowing of the soldiers in camouflage they will become. Like many of the American people, after the assassination of JFK, they have placed President Johnson on a pedestal next to God. The boys dream of meeting him.
The line between their youth and Boy Scout antics blurs into their desire to one day become men and what event will herald this change. As the pair skip around teasing each other, telling anecdotes and showing vulnerabilities, the elephant in the jungle is the likelihood of their kind dying young on the battlefield. Loyalty to the flag morphs from the Scouts’ Honour to allegiance to their country and is never questioned. The use of jaunty Beatles’ songs hits a subtle anti-war protest note, as we know well what John Lennon’s views on war were.
In an intimate space, the lighting and sound effects during A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson truly transport you to dark camp firelight, the rattle of a night train passing, jungle combat and even the feeling of being underwater. Green shadows of trees on the floor, the noise of crickets in the dark. This close-up theatre proves you don’t need expensive props and production to be truly impactful. Xhloe and Natasha’s energetic choreography and skilled acting put you right there in these characters’ moments, whether hiding under dormitory beds, swatting away mosquitoes, or trudging through rivers with rifles above their heads.
The sweet refrain of The Beatles’ Yesterday on the Mouth Organ is an example of Xhloe and Natasha not spoon-feeding details, the audience can read much into the show without it being shouted aloud. Everyone’s minds will have filled in the familiar words “All my troubles seemed so far away,” without this needing to be sung. The words “War” or “Vietnam” are never said but loom large.
The duo have the depth and potential to command a much greater space than this, so being up close and seeing the sparkle in their eyes and every nuanced expression was a joy. My teenage son, himself a scout, also loved the show. It’s quick and intense but carries your emotions along. I immediately wanted to see these guys in something else; I may well book What If They Ate The Baby as well.
Xhloe and Natasha show the type of chemistry where you can imagine them still working together in three decades’ time. Don’t wait that long – I hope they will continue to perform in the UK regularly. A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson and What If They Ate The Baby are running at Soho Theatre until 29 March.
A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson / What If They Ate The Baby
Soho Theatre until 29 March
21 Dean Street
London W1D 3NE
Looking for something different? Check our London West End Theatre Preview for 2025
Leave a Reply