Shenoah Allen: Bloodlust Summertime review – guns and slaughter as ‘the devil’s son’ strives to know himself

2026-02-20 - 12:03

Soho theatre, London Allen, one half of the influential Pajama Men comedy duo, mines his personal trauma for a slightly undercooked show about his high-octane upbringing in New Mexico Shenoah Allen swallows the characters that surround him. They stretch out in his face and spill out of his mouth. He’s a magnet for oddity, imitating the peculiarities of the people he’s grown up with: his grandmother’s lipstick eyebrows; his big-hearted uncle’s old-lady arm candy. In this meandering collection of anecdotes from the comedian’s high-octane upbringing in New Mexico, Allen – best known as one half of the influential comedy duo the Pajama Men, kings of mime and improv – browses through his dressing-up box of voices, trying them on for size. He’s done this since he was a kid, he tells us, to help him get through “the tetchy bits” of life. Of which his has been extremely full. Continue reading...