Review: That's Not My Name

📍 The Pleasance Theatre

🗓️ 19th March 2026

🎟️ PR Invite

Written by Sammy Trotman, That’s Not My Name is a 75-minute show that offers a raw and honest look at mental health. 

From the very start, it’s clear this isn’t going to be your standard night at the theatre. We’re introduced to Marceline, the director, who runs through a list of content warnings and gets the audience to react to each one. It immediately sets the tone for what’s to come: a piece that’s unique and unpredictable.

The show draws heavily on Sammy’s own life, touching on psychiatry, labels, identity, and acceptance. It’s deeply personal and doesn’t shy away from the harder moments, shining a light on a subject that still doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. 

Sammy throws everything into the performance. Their energy never dips across the 75 minutes, and it’s hard not to be pulled in by it.

The piece is chaotic and messy, but that feels intentional. It mirrors Sammy’s experiences, taking us through important moments in their life, including their time in a psychiatric ward, where the piece first started to take shape.

It moves quickly, jumping between stand-up, songs, and reenactments, which helps maintain momentum and ensures you’re never quite sure what’s coming next. This unpredictability generally works well, keeping you on your toes even if it can feel a bit random at times. There are moments where it’s harder to follow, but these are short-lived before the show gets back on track.

Despite the weight of the subject matter, the piece is mainly delivered with humour and self-deprecation. The use of lighting effectively depicts the various emotions throughout the show. 

The messiness of the performance is part of its charm—before it even begins, there are crisps and packets scattered on the floor, which only increase as the show progresses, forcing Sammy to clean up their own mess.

Much of the performance is delivered without a microphone, which generally works well in an intimate venue like The Pleasance. There are a few moments where it’s harder to catch everything due to the speed of delivery, even when a microphone is used.

Audience interaction adds to the intimate feel, working well in the small venue, ranging from general questions that prompt reactions to moments where audience members are brought onstage.

At times, Sammy interacts with the director and lighting tech, creating more comedic moments—some landed perfectly, others less so.

Overall, That’s Not My Name is a unique and engaging piece of theatre that tackles an important topic with honesty and energy. Its strength lies in embracing messiness and unpredictability, which mostly works, though the show could benefit from slightly more structure to guide the audience through its stages. That’s Not My Name is definitely a piece worth seeing.