One of our community reviewers, Victoria O’Rourke, shares her thoughts on this piece of queer new writing from Everybody Panic.
Show Title: All Of Them, Dead
Venue: The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury
Date Attended: Thursday 9th July 2026
A brilliant, expanded new play by Thom Munden, All Of Them, Dead has been described as Heartstopper meets The Day of the Triffids, but here, a pandemic causes meat to fall from the sky and a sweet love story unfolds from behind a fast food restaurant.
It’s 2003. Take yourself back to a world where mobile phones are used solely to make calls, the concept of social media is an alien life form, and you make friends just by crossing paths on the street. It is here we meet our main leads, Harry and Corey. They are funny and likeable, and most importantly, recognisable. Neither are caricatures; they are just two boys you know, or may have known when you were their age. While one is at the beginning of their working life pursuing the humdrum of fast food service, the other is dreaming big and going to college (to study Art & Design, of course). They bond over their shared experiences of homophobia and isolation. Their interactions quietly explore the intersection of queerness and class, their struggles with family, and the lack of community they find in their little town of Wisbech. Over the course of a pandemic that spans Summer, Autumn, and Winter, they become the only fixed points of stability in one another’s lives.
Filled with tongue-in-cheek nods to familiar tropes of the Covid pandemic era (this parallel Britain has its very own version of ‘Eat Out to Help Out’), we are also introduced to the minor characters the UK Prime Minister and a Meat Industry Executive. Their coldness, lack of empathy, and self-serving behaviour emphasises the naivety and innocence of Harry and Corey, juxtaposing them beautifully against the absurdities of establishment and authority.
Despite the drama playing out entirely from behind a fast food restaurant, thanks to technology, the rest of the world is always still there. Harry and Corey’s small corner of society is expanded by the use of cinematic video clips projected onto the set, giving us a glimpse into the private spaces of their bedrooms, and their walks across the sprawling, seemingly endless Fens. Music is utilised to evocative and world building end, creating a playlist that places you right back into your own angsty teens.
At its heart, All Of Them, Dead is a love story. But it has so much more to say. It’s about choosing apathy or ambition. It’s about discovering who you are and finding your people. It’s about continuing to have heart and pursue dreams – questioning, ‘this can’t be it, can it?’- even at the end of the world.
It’s dark and witty, a little bleak, and a welcome satire quick on the heels of our own apocalypse of 2020. I can’t help but think this play will be a balm to any young, queer person who gets to see it, and it will be a nostalgia trip for their elders. It will leave them feeling seen, and what more could you possibly want from a play like this? These kinds of stories set in the intersections of sexuality, society, and class continue to be important and needed. It’s even greater when they are so wonderfully performed by talented young actors who so clearly care about their characters.
