Review: A Bright New Boise

Misplaced Theatre stages another one of their characteristically entertaining pieces of theatre

Walking into the auditorium of the Alma Tavern Theatre and being faced with the set of A Bright New Boise, is like walking into the slightly depressing staff room of any customer service based job. It’s spot on and really sets the mood for what’s to come.

There’s the poorly performing microwave and a poster announcing ‘Employee of the Week’. A utilitarian A4 print out of a customer service mantra from the Hobby Lobby CEO is one of a range of posters on the wall. ‘Commitment, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication’.

A range of mismatched mugs patiently await their own passive aggressive ‘friendly reminder’ sign to wash up.

A TV monitor silently plays Hobby Lobby’s corporate channel. Two men monologue their way through training videos and sales pitches. They are interrupted at intervals by the interference of medical videos from elsewhere when it rains.

It’s in this one staff room setting that Samuel D Hunter’s A Bright New Boise explores themes of family, religion and fundamentalism.

The playwright has said in the past that he was inspired to write the play after watching a TV documentary about Westboro Baptist Church’s Fred Waldron Phelps Sr and his family.

Hobby Lobby itself is worthy of an internet dive. The American chain of arts and crafts items was founded by the evangelical David Green. With his strong conservative Christian values, he courted controversy by suing the government to overturn the mandate that they must provide its employees access to the morning after pill.

Somehow this ‘moral’ stance didn’t extend to the smuggling of historical artifacts and various forms of discrimination to marginalised communities.

Some critics of Samuel D Hunter’s play have deemed its content as irrelevant and dated and mental health issues as problematic. But it’s impossible to ignore the current creep of American conservative values into British culture through Christian nationalism – including here in Bristol. It absolutely continues to have a home on the stage.

This production is from Bristol-based Misplaced Theatre. Their production of A Bright New Boise sits nicely in balance with Doubt, A Parable, which the company staged at the Alma exactly two years ago.

A Bright New Boise is a dark comedy with plenty of humour but also moments of high drama. Misplaced finds this balance well.

Will has come for a job interview at Hobby Lobby. He’s already nearing the end of this when the play starts. We can sense his sketchiness when asked about a gap in his employment. He reveals it to be a period of time he worked as a church accountant. Following flashes of footage showing the power of God touching people in evangelical services at the start, there’s clearly more to the gap in his employment.

Will has an ulterior motive for taking the job at Hobby Lobby which ultimately feels like a second priority to his awaiting The Rapture. He’s been tracking down his son who was adopted as a baby. He’s finally found him working at the store and uses his new position to try and insert himself into his life.

Alex, Will’s son, is a fragile 17 year old. He is carrying a lot of trauma stemming from emotional abuse and a loss of knowing where he’s from.

Also working at Hobby Lobby is Leroy, Alex’s protective adopted brother. He’s an art graduate who can’t be fired because he is the only member of staff who understands the products on sale. He customises t-shirts with swearwords to directly make customers confront their own discomfort.

Store employee Anna hides in the shop after closing time to read her book in peace. She’s a lovely character often fired from jobs for making mistakes. She’s barely clinging to employment at Hobby Lobby after a mispricing of doll arms and legs incident.

Pauline is the store manager. Initially, she has only taken the job for a temporary six month period with a planned closure. Unfortunately for her, her efficiency and organisation has seen profits increase leaving her stuck in a kind of Hobby Lobby limbo.

In fact, that’s what the staff room feels like. A dysfunctional family who just aren’t finding their way to move on.

Throw in the themes of God, religion and religious fundamentalism in what feels like a family with matriarch Pauline and you can seen the Westboro influence.

Photography – Jordan Davies

Jaleelah Galbraith plays Pauline. She finds humour and depth in the endlessly frustrated store manager. Her annoyances are often very funny and Jaleelah knows exactly how to lean into this – particularly so with the Conflict Resolution form. Every time conflict arises between staff members, the form has to be filled in. It’s additional training which in the past has cost her a whole weekend.

Will is played by Tyler Landry. His performance gradually unfolding more of Will’s motivation piece by piece. He seems well meaning and eager to connect with his son. But as the layers come away, it belies the religious fundamentalism at the core of his beliefs.

His closely growing relationship with Maya Hingorani’s delightful portrayal of Anna, serves to make the ending of the play really quite shocking.

Jack Parrott’s earnest portrayal of Will’s son Alex is beautifully done. He carries a sparkle in his eyes when making connections with others. He also displays an emotionally fragile edge which gives genuine depth to his performance.

Antagonistic Leroy is played by Rhys Myhill. He’s confrontational around people’s boundaries and fiercely protective of Alex. Rhys expertly focuses his performance to bubble away at a carefully balanced point between edgy banter and anger.

And bot to forget the uncredited Man 1 and Man 2. They appear on the silent screen mouthing their way through what promises to be the dullest corporate channel in the world and to great humorous effect.

Samuel D Hunter’s play doesn’t quite seem to have conviction in its ending. Although it ties up the threads of the show, it doesn’t leave the audience fully knowing where it lands.

This isn’t a problem for Misplaced Theatre, who excel at tackling interesting pieces of work often bestowed with such ambiguity. As always, the company delivers another characteristically entertaining piece of theatre with strong performances.

A Bright New Boise is at the Alma Tavern Theatre until Saturday 18 April 2026

For more information or to book, visit: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/almatheatrecompany/2008778

Cast and Creatives
Will – Tyler Landry
Pauline – Jaleelah Galbraith
Alex – Jack Parrott
Anna – Maya Hingorani
Leroy – Rhys Myhill

Director – Amy Tanner
Assistant Director – Louie Wanless
Lighting and Sound – Billie-Jo Rainbird
Photography – Jordan Davies
Videography – Harrison Thorne
Producer – Ciaran Corsar

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