Doughboys ★★★☆☆

Doughboys ★★★☆☆

Doughboys takes the Second World War, marches it straight into the trenches and then sprinkles a healthy dose of 2026 queer fairy dust over the whole thing.

This five-person theatrical farce begins with men waiting for reinforcements, only for three soldiers to arrive who are unapologetically women. What follows is a satirical battle of expectations, gender and who exactly gets to wear the trousers, particularly when everyone is expecting a very different kind of masculine energy to come marching over the horizon.

There are shades of Carry On, Dad’s Army and Saving Private Ryan thrown into a blender, with puns, silliness and some excellent comedic timing keeping the troops moving. Haddock, in particular, fires off enough wordplay to regularly earn some of the biggest laughs in the room.

At its core, Doughboys is also playing with drag, not the sequins, lip-syncing and death-drop variety, but drag in its much older theatrical tradition. There’s something almost Shakespearean about the way gender and performance are layered together, allowing the show to question masculinity while giving its women space to invade a world historically reserved for men.

Beneath the comedy is a strong thread about the suffragette movement, women’s fight to be included and the often-overlooked role women played in the war effort. It gives the silliness some substance without forcing the satire to surrender.

What initially presents itself as a straightforward wartime comedy eventually reveals something more theatrical. The final stretch brings some genuinely unexpected twists and turns, shifting the tone and giving the production a surprisingly strong finish.

Doughboys makes war queer, puts women on the front line and proves that sometimes the best way to tackle old-fashioned masculinity is with a well-aimed pun. It may not win every battle, but there’s plenty here worth enlisting for.

★★★☆☆