Cody and Beau Reviews 25/26
Cody and Beau Reviews 25/26
★★★★★ (Theatre Weekly - London)
Written and performed by Dylan Kaeuper and William Grice, Cody and Beau is an electric story about two boys and their dreams of the Wild, Wild West.
The scene is set in Gonzales, Texas, 1899, where townfolk believe in cowboy boots, cowboy hats, and Manifest Destiny. We meet best friends Cody and Beau, young teens who play out the tales of Billy the Kid and Sheriff Garrett in their bedroom, armed with their fake guns and Western figurines, dreaming of becoming real cowboys one day. While Beau seems content in Gonzales, with his spelling bee commitments and crush on Abigail, Cody’s aspirations lie outside of Gonzales and in the Wild West. Cody eventually convinces Beau to head to the desert with him, with nothing but a stolen map, tinned peaches, and a dream. What starts as a boyish adventure turns into something far more tender, thrilling, and real, with a life-altering impact on these boys that even puberty could not compete with.
There is so much depth to these characters, a nod to Grice and Kaeuper’s extraordinary acting, writing, and direction. Grice is superb as Beau, embodying the innocence of youth with his ditzy, agreeable, and vulnerable personality. Kaeuper is compelling in his performance as Cody, the adventurous, determined, and hardy yin to Beau’s yang. The range of these two is front and centre, delivering scenes that are entertaining, playful, tender, angry, and compassionate, set against the backdrop of an America on the precipice of modernity. Physical comedy is used throughout as a means of expressing and elevating the storytelling and humour, though even if this were absent, this play would certainly not be lacking. Kaeuper and Grice are utterly captivating, and they maintain a fast-paced, high-energy, fun, and tender dynamic, brilliantly reflecting the characters’ youthfulness and their fixation on Western lore.
I can’t not mention Cody and Beau’s venture to retrieve the map from the Suzy twins’ home. It reminds me somewhat of a more chaotic, endearing, and entertaining version of the classic ’90s children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, though with fewer bears and more slapstick. It is a truly unforgettable scene.
This is a play that has you smiling from start to finish, exploring themes like boyhood, friendship, and folklore. It is a notable production that is well worth the watch. Bravo.
- Katie Shaw
★★★★ (London Theatre 1)
Devised by twenty-one-year-old long-time friends, according to Dylan’s mother, who was sitting next to me at The Jack, and wanted to know why I was seeing this play. Dylan Kaeuper and William Grice’s Cody and Beau is a remarkable achievement for a ‘first play’! Many devised plays I see lack motivation and dialogue with any depth, but this piece of writing has a sound structure. It has clearly been put down on paper by two people who can write excellent English and have an understanding of stagecraft.
The style verges on Theatre of the Absurd, as we are never quite sure whether what we are seeing and hearing is real or fantasy; it is quite compelling, as well as being both amusing and, at the end, quite tragic.
Two fifteen-year-old boys in 1889 Texas have but one goal: to become cowboys. From the safety of their shared bedroom, gunfights blaze and outlaw legends come alive. But: is this life or just imagination, spurred on by the comics they are addicted to? What slowly develops over the sixty-minute running time is a tender, searching exploration of youthful masculinity, friendship and the darker truths that are buried in America’s past.
The play has tremendous pace and energy; movement is always precise and exactly what is needed: in fact, it is a pleasure to watch both actors as they complement each other very well. William Grice, as Beau, has a very expressive but natural face: one can see what he is thinking without being told. Dylan Kaeuper’s Cody has an anxious personality, seemingly always questioning and never settled, always moving. They are clearly used to acting as a team and are always watchable on the almost bare, sand-coloured stage, littered with Wild West comics for the first half of the play (design Ayaana Tuansi).
Cody and Beau was seen at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe recently, and both actors have made the decision to leave the play as it was played there, rather than adding to it. The result is as good as it gets: far too many shows of this type have lost their impetus because their creators have tried to continually improve them by editing and reediting until spontaneity is lost! Jack Read’s lighting gives a suitably hot, dry, desert atmosphere to the whole proceedings, almost making one head to the bar at the Brockley Jack afterwards!
Most enjoyable and something just that bit different: I look forward to the team’s second play, which, I gather, will be at Edinburgh this year!
- John Groves
https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/cody-and-beau-a-wild-west-story-jack-studio-theatre/
★★★★★ (The Real Chris Sparkle)
Cody plays with his toy Cowboys and Indians while Beau panics that it’s 9:45pm and he isn’t ready for curtain up – setting a delightfully meta tone in this extraordinarily inventive play. The two best pals in Gonzales, Texas, get so carried away with their love for Wild West Heroes that they plan to escape from home and find Billy The Kid. There’s a magical childish pleasure in seeing them make their devious plan, including breaking into a house to steal a map, and acquiring all the food and supplies for their perilous quest; and as they run away, the lines between reality and fantasy become blurred as Cody and Beau face the real challenges of the Wild West. Dylan Kaeuper and Will Grice have created a truly exciting and escapist fantasy that takes us back to when we were kids, and portray their young adventurers with affection, courage and a genuine sense of those unbreakable bonds we develop with our childhood best friends. I was blown away with the magic of it all. One of this Fringe’s must-see shows. 5 stars.
— The Real Chris Sparkle
★★★★ (Binge Fringe)
Dramatically physical storytelling bookends sections of tightly wound tragicomedy. Cody is the rambunctious and ambitious upstart to the more naïve and wide-eyed Beau. They leap around the stage with such whimsical glee that you can’t help but get swept up in their antics – dashing through the desert sands, playing toy soldiers, flashing their fake wooden guns at one another. Moments of absurdity intersperse the linear narrative to striking effect, with visions of the fictionalised world the pair want to inhabit. High-octane performances from both Dylan Kaueper as Cody and Will Grice as Beau are the beating heart of this show, eventually allowing us deeper into the pair’s psyches and with an emotive, high-stakes finale. Beau’s character arc sees him come to terms with the fact that his heroes may not even look him in the eye, while Cody’s self-assuredness and determination is weathered by the realities of life on the road. All of this is played with a fantastically-delivered light touch. Between the moments of pathos and introspection is a bundle of exuberant, playful joy and roleplay that settles this as a firm and promising debut for Kaueper and Grice. They’re a duo to watch. Dylan and Will’s devilishly sharp and fervent EdFringe debut is a whip-smart romp through toxically masculine idols and false expectations of what it means to be a man.
— Jake Mace (Binge Fringe)
★★★★ (Broadway Baby)
Beneath the gripping action and intense physicality, this heart-pounding adventure presents an intimate portrayal of boyhood friendship and an emotional exploration of masculinity that highlights the fine line between our true selves and who we pretend to be. We start with two pals who enjoy innocently playing together but then experience the intensities of bonding and survival as their characters deal with challenges on the journey and come to rely on each other for survival. They have to face the harsh realities of life and realise that growing up is a demanding process, full of big questions about existence and the nature of relationships. But among all the soul-searching, their tale is littered with comic moments and playfulness, though they don’t shy away from a bravely dark ending.
Kaeuper and Grice say they have “grown up performing and dreaming up worlds together since childhood”, at school where they began their creative partnership, and now at Edinburgh University, where they have formed their own company, Dylan and Will Theatre, with a “mission to make inventive, actor-led theatre that surprises, provokes and, most importantly, entertains.” This debut show fulfils all of those aspirations, is hugely impressive and great fun. These are two to look out for, with the potential to be enormously successful.
— Richard Beck (Broadway Baby)
Link: https://broadwaybaby.com/shows/cody-and-beau-a-wild-west-story/824750
★★★★ (A Youngish Perspective)
Both performers are excellent, both in the dramatic scenes and in some exquisite physical comedy, where they are completely in sync. Escaping from your room has never been more perilous or entertaining. The accent work is really strong too – there were a couple of wobbles in moments of high drama, but it’s really commendable to sustain such high quality over the course of the hour.
The script is fun and ambitious, with smart remarks and bantering between the boys, leaving us all rooting for them, balanced with sweeter, more reflective moments as they camp under the stars. However, it’s in the final scenes following an altercation that the dramatic performances come to the fore, in a shuddering conclusion that will stay with you for a long time after.
This is a very accomplished production, perfectly poised in comedy and drama. Saddle up, cowboys!
— Claire McArthur (A Youngish Perspective)
Link: https://ayoungishperspective.co.uk/2025/08/09/review-cody-beau-a-wild-west-story/
★★★★ (The Recs)
The eponymous characters in Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story dream of escaping their hometown of Gonzales, Texas, and becoming cowboys, but their hopes are rooted in the fantasy and folklore of magazines and action figures, items that are demonstrably being read and played with by Cody Crockett (Dylan Kaeuper) at the play’s start. Soon they will learn the hard way what the audience already knows, that the reality of a cowboy’s life in 1899 is far harsher, far less romantic. Their loss of innocence is the heart of this intriguing show, a clever and engaging road trip down the path of deconstructed American western mythology. Their sanitized fantasy is fun, as fantasies are wont to be. Ennio Morricone’s classic score to The Good, The Bad and the Ugly fills the air, Beau McCarthy (Will Grice) does an elaborate and amusing version of what he think’s Billy the Kid’s dance of death looked like, and well-known outlaws and heroes are name dropped in rapid succession: Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane, Jesse James and Buffalo Bill all get called out, with the last being proclaimed the greatest “cause he killed the most Indians.” These boys — and they are most definitely boys — think they’re ready to face the outside world, but their inherent sweetness and naïveté will be no match for what they’ll soon be facing.
Their first night out in the desert — far from the comfort of their bedrooms — is one full of discovery and questions.
Cody: “What’s them shiny things?”
Beau: “Stars.”
Later, when discussing and wondering if God is a real thing, Beau announces that he thinks “God looks like a horse.” Learning that even their imaginations are limited to the contained world they’ve thus far experienced, it’s clear that heartbreak is on the way. And it is. Both still university undergraduates, Kaeuper and Grice are totally in sync as they bring impressive spirit, sincerity and physicality to their respective characters, and the result is this thoughtful production that’s both entertaining and moving. It’s exciting to consider what they’ll come up with next.
- Randall David Cook (The Recs)
Link: https://therecs.co.uk/cody-and-beau-a-wild-west-story/
★★★★ (Edinburgh Dramaturgie)
Hilariously playful and heart-wrenchingly real, Cody and Beau is a beautiful reflection on masculinity, friendship, and growing up.
‘Cody and Beau: A Wild West Story’ is a fun, immersive adventure rooted in physical comedy and childish wonder that throws the audience into two boys’ elaborate plan to become outlaws. Cody Crocket (Dylan Kaeuper) and Beau McCarthy (Will Grice) believe that their Western hero, Billy the Kid, is still alive and on the run, and plan to escape their lives in Gonzales, Texas in search of their true cowboy fantasy. The play starts with a nail-biting spelling bee, in which the youthful excitement of Cody and Beau is established right away. ‘Aging down’ as a performer is not as easy as it might seem, but both Kaeuper and Grice nailed the childish mannerisms and embodied the boys brilliantly. The rest of the show sees the boys facing an array of challenges – from a guard dog, to navigating God and mortality. While the first half of the play is packed with engaging comedy and youthful idealism, the narrative gradually moves towards something more sinister. A face off with a large group of Native Americans begins to change the boys’ understanding of the world, as they realise that life is absolutely nothing like their cowboy magazines. There is a beautiful moment where Cody goes through an unexpected character development, and the play suddenly presents an ‘ unconventional’ cowboy, contradicting the typical masculine identity associated with western heroes. This shift in tone helps set the audience up for the final scenes of the play, which have an unexpectedly heart-wrenching ending.
Having been real-life friends since school, Kaeuper and Grice have an undeniable chemistry that really elevates the show. Their physical comedy is consistently supported by their synchronicity as performers, which makes for some really entertaining action sequences. The boys appear to be operating on the same wavelength throughout, which allows the dialogue to flow in a way that feels very natural to watch.
There are plenty of moments throughout the play that remind the audience that amongst all the drama, Cody and Beau are just two young boys. One of my favourite scenes was a role-play scenario performed by Cody and Beau: a dramatic confrontation between Billy the Kid and Sheriff Garret. There was nothing overly complicated about the scene, but what stuck out was that it was not Dylan and Will playing Billy and Garret – it was Cody and Beau. (And yes, there is a difference). The mannerisms that characterise Cody and Beau remain, even under the guise of an outlaw and a sheriff. This small detail makes for some fantastic storytelling – even it goes unseen to most.
Saddle up, because this show is worth your time this fringe!
- Isla Trainor (Edinburgh Dramaturgie)
