Wandering and Wondering

Katie Davids’ Walking With Molly drills into audiences’ heads the rather topical question: ‘Would you rather be followed home by a man or a bear?’. As suggested by Molly, neither is ideal — a bear seems a rather terrifying in comparison to another human being. What this play accentuates through mostly Molly’s sister’s role is Molly’s ignorance of the bigger topic of women’s safety. Walking With Molly allows audiences to explore the question: can we sweepingly place all men in the pool of ‘predator’ and can we place all women in the pool of ‘victim’? But there is more…

Molly turns into a social media influencer (her dream job) after she goes viral as the drunken girl interviewed on a night out (was this fair to her?), passionately slashing people for ridiculously suggesting that women should be scared to walk home with a man following them. We journey with Molly through an experiment she decides to take up to prove her point: A little game of Russian roulette, going out on countless dates with Logan Mersh’s impressive nine-character multi-roling and live streaming the whole experience.

Audience members are encouraged to ask themselves ‘what do I think?’ regarding a plethora of topics (perhaps one too many), causing, at times, a slightly muddled conclusion. Are we meant to feel sorry for Molly, or are we meant to feel empowered? Does Molly really believe what she is manifesting, or is it all orchestrated for her influencer job? One could argue that there are times when an audience’s thought process would divert slightly off track; for example, a single heterosexual female in the audience might leave disheartened at the portrayal of Molly’s disastrous dating life, which highlights the lack of eligible bachelors in the mix. Perhaps an audience questions the insincerity of all social media influencing we now endlessly follow in 2025? The pro of all these topics is that not a moment goes by when the audience isn’t thinking, pondering and considering an answer to many questions being asked.

Fiona Winning implements a wonderful use of multimedia. The projected screen and use of sound is executed precisely to bring to life the split world Molly lives in; one world being in her messy, unorganised apartment — home to chaos and honesty –  and the other where she performs the character to her 30,000 followers when dating her many men. There are lots of one-liners and humour scattered monist the hard-hitting topics of feminism, misogyny, gaslighting and sexual assault, which breaks up the intensity with a lovely breath.

An official conclusion is never drawn from the piece, and the audience is asked to make up their own minds. Is Molly in denial, is she suffering herself, does she truly believe that women are under no threat at all if ‘followed’ home by a man?