Honor Koe makes her playwriting debut with Are We Doing This Right?, making its return to London after a successful Spring engagement in Islington.
Koe plays a 20-something singleton who aspires to be an actor. Teamed with Freddie Thorp (returning to stage roots after work on TV) as her friend and flatmate for this run, they have a potent chemistry and easy sense of banter.
Both are at professional snd personal crossroads. He is an asset manager (“that’s the same as an accountant, isn’t it?”), recently split from his long-term girlfriend.
There’s also the parents. Her dad is sick and slipping away from her: his mum bothers him about their ailing dog at home.
With scenes in the flat (with its long table, ‘sleepy tea’ and fridge full of IPA booze, designed by Amber Wild) punctuated by trips to the pub (unseen), these two muddle their way through life.
Koe’s writing is sharp, and director Benedict Esdale has a light touch. This is a world easily recognisable and full of regret, bad decisions, and fickle choices. With Hinge, hangovers, and hookups on the menu.
We first meet Koe’s character filming a commercial for erectile dysfunction on her phone. It’s her life of casual sex, a diet of snacks and booze, and indifference to her day job, that is dysfunctional.
This is a pointed look at creativity and how it evolves. It captures the highs, the lows, the dreams, the delusions, the amusement, the oddity, of being a performer.
As Thorp’s character realises money might not be everything, and Koe finds inspiration not in the imaginary Deep South, but closer to home, we are pulled into their story, and held there.
An honest and intelligent debut play, Are We Doing This Right? runs until 7 Sep at Riverside Studios, with tickets here.
For more on Honor Koe, follow her on Instagram.
4.5 stars from me.