Review: The Billionaire Inside Your Head (Hampstead Theatre)

Review by Sophie Wilby

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Whether you’ve lived it, sat patiently through the three acts of The Lehman Trilogy or binged Severance, it’s no secret that the corporate world is brutal. Now, into this ever-expanding canon of corporate critique and onto the stage of Hampstead Theatre steps Will Lord with his debut play, The Billionaire Inside Your Head. 

Despite working together on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, best friends Darwin (Ashley Margolis) and Richie (Nathan Clarke) have very different ideas about what their lives should be. As children, they both dreamed of becoming billionaires (their first scheme involved reselling sweets at double the price in the school playground) but now in their twenties, it is only Richie who remains fuelled by it. These diverging perspectives are in part sharpened by their circumstances: Darwin is cushioned by the comforts of a nepo-baby existence as his mother, Nicole (Allison McKenzie), owns the debt collection company they work for, while Richie has no such safety net.

As the protagonist, Richie is the more vividly drawn of the two men, brimming with Apprentice-like bravado, clinging desperately to the image that “The Voice” (also played by Allison McKenzie) tells him to become. It’s a role that Clarke portrays beautifully, selling the facade of confidence and charm whilst flitting between mania and irrationality as his mental state begins to deteriorate. It is a delicate balance between Richie’s pretty unlikable LinkedIn-soundbite energy and his sympathetic internal struggle, but it is one that Clarke succeeds in drawing the audience into. 

Understandably, Darwin, by contrast, feels less defined. There’s a moral unease in him as he’s clearly not thrilled to be working for a debt collector, but he is as uncomfortable by his privilege as he is fully willing to embrace it. However, with the narrative spotlight fixed on Richie, much of this is left underexplored. Whilst it would have been interesting to understand his character further, this imbalance does work well.

From the offset, a fourth-wall break invites us directly into Richie’s mind. The play opens with (what we later understand to be) The Voice addressing the audience directly, catching us off guard as we’re instructed to do certain things whilst being uncertain if she truly wants us to respond. It is a clever way of Lord inviting the audience into Richie’s headspace (and of showing us his comedic writing skills), without us fully realising it until much later in the performance and it is a striking moment of McKenzie’s performance as she strides onto stage with an unbridled, somewhat affronting and disorientating confidence. It is from this opening that we gradually understand that as the protagonist, Richie is almost an unreliable narrator, his reality is somewhat distorted, and Darwin becomes the slightly opaque friend glimpsed from his perspective.

As The Voice, McKenzie adopts an unsettling mix of maternal warmth and overt sexuality, whilst striking an almost godlike figure, dressed in a crisp, pure white suit. In her dual role as Nicole, meanwhile, she is an underexplored character - though with her limited stage time, this is understandable, and perhaps intentional  as she becomes a ruthless caricature for the business world itself, unapologetic and cut-throat (which McKenzie plays very convincingly). But it is this characterisation that makes her sudden “I’m not sure men can do this anymore {...} lead” monologue feel a little out of place and jarring.

Still, Lord’s writing shines when he zeroes in on the friendship at the heart of the play. There’s a clear love between Darwin and Richie but their inability to communicate openly makes their bond fragile. Darwin notices Richie’s struggles but only ever calls him “weird,” never quite understanding his condition. An early scene where they re-enact Richie’s failed date is a prime example of this as their playful role-play underlines their closeness, showing how well Darwin knows Richie and yet Richie’s eventual reveal as to why the date wasn’t a success shows Darwin’s blind spots when it comes to truly understanding his friend. It’s a raw, tender friendship and Margolis and Clarke have a wonderful chemistry, both with great comedic timing, as well as a genuine warmth.

The production is well-designed by Janet Bird as the audience sit on either side of the stage, looking into the basement office where the pair work. The set hard-handedly but effectively mirrors their personalities: Darwin’s side is playful, messy and chaotic (featuring crumpled papers, an ashtray, a dartboard and a basketball hoop) while Richie’s side is more carefully curated with a “rise and grind” mug atop his desk as a nod to his hustle-culture fantasies. The lighting design (James Whiteside) enhances the tension of the play beautifully, flickering and shifting to mirror Richie’s headspace and quickening in pace as his mental state destabilises. 

Though a one hour forty minute run time with no interval might feel daunting (it certainly was to me, at least), Lord has paced the show exceptionally well so that the pace is crisp, the humour lands with genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and it balances raw, vulnerable depictions of a rarely-portrayed mental illness with warmth and heart. The Billionaire Inside Your Head is a confident, compelling debut play from Lord; funny, tender, and unsettling in equal measure.

The Billionaire Inside Your Head plays at Hampstead Theatre until October 25th

For tickets and information visit https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2025/the-billionaire-inside-your-head/

Photos by Rich Lakos