Review: The Last Man

📍 Southwark Playhouse Elephant

🗓️ 19th May 2026

🎟️ PR Invite

The Last Man is a 1 hour 40 minute rock musical (plus an interval) set in Seoul and is currently making its world premiere of the newly reimagined English-language version at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant. The show has book and lyrics by Jishik Kim, music by Seungyeon Kwon and is directed by Daljung Kim.

Consisting of 15 songs, the musical is set in a Banjiha — a semi-basement flat — during a global catastrophe. A deadly virus is spreading around the world and a zombie apocalypse is taking place outside. In a bid to save himself, ‘The Survivor’ has gathered months’ worth of supplies — food, drinks, water and plants — in order to survive the deadly virus. Over the course of the 100-minute show, we learn more about the character and follow his journey of survival.

Walking into the Southwark Playhouse Elephant itself, the usual seating area signs around the theatre are replaced with signs for bunkers, setting the theme for the evening from the off.

The set — designed by Shankho Chaudhuri — is reminiscent of a desperate survival attempt, with a bed, desk, boxes scattered around the space and movie posters covering the walls.

TV screens above the set signal warnings and there’s an eerie feel in the air, with sound effects creating a constant feeling of unease. The set was really effective in establishing the world the character is trapped in, with more and more props appearing as the evening progressed and lighting further emphasising the claustrophobic setting as green lights flashed outside.

The role of ‘The Survivor’ is shared between two performers across the run — Lex Lee and Nabi Brown. On this occasion, Lex Lee was playing the role and after a sudden start to the performance with sirens blaring and lights flashing, our ‘survivor’ bursts onto the stage.

Immediately, the first song of the show begins but sadly I wasn’t able to get much context from it as the music drowned out the lyrics. This continued at various points during the performance to some extent, although the opening number was where it was at its worst.

That said, I really did enjoy the music in the show and there was a good balance of dialogue and singing throughout. Lex Lee’s vocals suited the genre really well and he delivered a strong vocal performance throughout.

The plot itself was quite interesting, although it took me a while to emotionally connect to it.

We follow ‘The Survivor’ as he goes through a huge range of emotions — from an optimistic man confident that he’s prepared well for lockdown and has high hopes for his survival, to the eventual decline of his mental health as he struggles to cope with having no real human contact other than a teddy bear he finds and names ‘John Bear’. 

The second act in particular is a stark contrast to his mood in the first act, with a much darker outlook and his temper flaring.

I also thought I knew exactly how the show was going to end, but a twist in the final moments completely caught me off guard.

Lex Lee played the character extremely well, bringing plenty of humour while keeping the audience fully engaged in his story. From childhood memories to reminiscing about brighter days, his character goes through a huge emotional journey and Lee performed it all with great energy.

Much of the show is performed to a phone camera as he ‘vlogs’ his days in lockdown, but he was still able to keep the audience engaged throughout. The emotional range required for this role is intense and he captured that really well — going from an optimistic man with high hopes to someone struggling with the reality that his food and drink supplies are running low, technology is failing him and he’s desperately missing the feeling of jeong — human connection

Overall, I really enjoyed the performance. It’s an interesting concept that’s established well, supported by a fitting set alongside excellent lighting and sound design choices throughout.

The plot was relatively strong — with a few plot holes here and there — but generally kept me invested in the story being told. There’s also a lot of humour in this piece which adds another layer to the performance, and Lex Lee’s great comedic timing really elevated those moments. His character is incredibly likeable and you find yourself really rooting for him and his adorable bear friend.

It was also great to see so many references to Korean culture throughout the show and learn more about it.

A dark but surprisingly sweet story about survival, loneliness and human connection.