'This phantasmagorical monologue — beautifully delivered by the American actress Clare Latham — is much more than the sum of its ideological parts. Walker has created an indelible portrait of an indestructible lost soul, a feral young woman who survives a bleak childhood in rural Georgia, runs wild at high school in California, becomes entangled in drug dealing and goes on an odyssey to central America before returning to Los Angeles in time for the Rodney King trial and the latest earthquake.'

'Walker’s poetic writing and Latham’s intensity make it compelling. Young Maxine prowls Amy Jane Cook’s set — a buckled shard of freeway framed by a shattered LA road sign'

'It’s a wild, incantatory travelogue, like an Angela Carter novella with lethal weapons and a touch of American Gothic.'

'Walker’s direction is tight and cool, however. Sheila Atim supplies fragments of spookily effective music, while John Leonard’s sound design and Bethany Gupwell’s lighting evoke the turmoil inside the heroine’s head.'

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'The play, small in itself, carries its own devastating and seismic power.'

'Claire Latham is utterly arresting... she holds us breathless over the course of the play, which is performed straight through and gathers a compulsive momentum. Her story is partly an angered growl against the world’s iniquities but also a reclaiming of sorts – a need to describe her pain but also narrate the gleaming moments of love and joy.'

'Ché Walker, writer and director, manages to make it intimate and epic and his script is rich and literary without being florid. Sheila Atim composes the music and with Bethany Gupwell’s lighting and John Leonard’s sound design, builds a strong atmosphere. Latham speaks from the nooks and crannies of Amy Jane Cook’s scorched-earth set'

'She has an animal femininity reminiscent of Angela Carter’s wolf women whose skins are licked off to reveal fur beneath, and there are also echoes of Clarissa Pinkola Estés’s Women Who Run With the Wolves.'

'This fairytale element is combined with the grit and gore of the story’s southern gothic and together it creates a heady effect. If the lockdowns turned the monologue into an overfamiliar form, Wolf Cub remoulds it into something new, exciting and dangerous again.'

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'Walker has crafted a dark and disturbing play that holds no punches when it comes to detail but remarkably is packed with humour and highly engaging.'

'No wonder Ché Walker persuaded Latham to come across the pond to join this production; she is sensational. Being the only actor in a play is, of course, a challenge but Latham made it look easy. She effortlessly moved between characters with pacing and delivery that is exquisite.'

'Accompanying the performance was some stellar design work from Amy Jane Cook... It is rare to see a studio piece with such high calibre work'

'Walker, Latham and company have seriously delivered in the Hampstead Theatre  Downstairs, and for 80 minutes, they had an audience captivated. This is a brilliant and delicately devised play that is particularly perfect if you are looking to branch out into seeing smaller-scale shows that still pack a punch - trust me, you are in safe hands with this one.'

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