THEATRE REVIEW 2025
are we doing this right?
Hen & Chicken's THEATRE
WRITER: Honor Koe
DIRECTOR: Benedict Esdale
Cast:
Honor Koe & Ned Campbell
Hen & Chicken's Theatre, London
Till 24, May, 2025
Jun, 4, 2025
★★★★
Teenage angst is the stuff of legend. We all remember it. The spots, the sexual awakening, and the long summer afternoons with White Lightning and friends in the local park. Nobody tells you how formative your teenage years will be – just 7 years that define you. But these 7 years do not prepare us for the decade that follows, our twenties. The transition from teenager to adult begins at midnight on our 16th birthday, with full adulthood looming on the horizon two short years later. Going into our 20s, the idea of freedom becomes more prevalent, combined with confusion, learning, growth, and responsibility, with the aim of trying to understand ourselves and our lives. There are far more pressures twenty-year-olds face now than they did a few decades ago, and there still does not seem to be a proper blueprint on how to adult, which forms the basis of Honor Koe’s debut play Are We Doing This Right?
In a typical flat in London, two flatmates in their twenties who have been friends since university, a woman, Koe, an aspiring writer/actress, and a man, Ned Campbell, who works in the city, find themselves in an existential crisis. She is worried that her dream of becoming a writer is hampered by her indecision, living in London, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, whereas he is in a slump caused by a recent breakup with Alex and issues with the HR Manager at work. Both the man and woman seem to be existing rather than living, leading them to question how they can get to the place in their lives that will allow them to live.
The Hen and Chicken’s Theatre provides this production with an interesting vibe that made me think of Withnail and I. It’s one of the original pub-come-fringe theatres that has played a lustrous home for emerging playwrights since the late 1980s. The space is intimate, and a packed house makes the theatre seem much bigger than it is. The set, designed by Amber Wild, feels real and skilfully detailed. As Koe and Campbell bring these characters to life, the sound from the busy intersection on St Paul’s Road bleeds through into the space, providing an additional level of authenticity.
As a writer, Koe’s strengths lie in the skilful way she observes people and how these observations have allowed her to craft two very powerfully layered characters. With the man, there is a truth that Koe provides him that builds an interesting connection with her audience. He’s complex and facing his battles, but rather than spoon-feed this to her audience, Koe’s writing, aided by Campbell and their director Benedict Esdale, slowly allows this character’s struggles to come out.
At the start, it's not clear if the man is gay. I know it sounds like I am being reductive; that’s not my intention, but I thought it interesting that it is only later in the play that we discover Alex was the man's girlfriend. The way the man interacts with the woman, the freedom she has talking to him and his equal freedom, never holding back his cynicism or critiques, is beautifully captured. There’s a maturity to this friendship that takes away any of the preconceived notions of heterosexual opposite-sex friends. The man’s not pining for the woman, and there isn't any sexual history; rather, they’re simply friends. There are few instances we get to see this type of friendship presented to us, and when we do, it does seem strange to comprehend, as though we’re expecting something negative to happen that ruins the beauty of what we see.
One of the scariest aspects that both men and women face living in London is knowing who to trust. It is this type of trust that the man and woman have found in their small group of two that provides them with the safety and security they need to traverse the challenges they’re facing. Koe highlights this towards the end when the man and woman have a huge fight. It is within this fight that the audience is offered more insight into his breakup by exploring how the man's moods impacted his relationship and the role it played in the breakup. It’s within this friendship they've found safety and security, an anchoring that allows them to, albeit slowly, find their right path.
Koe further adds to the man’s struggles through the issues he’s having at work with the HR Manager. The man's line about being unable to complain to HR got a huge, almost belly laugh from the audience, but it’s not funny. This is a real pain that the man is feeling and is a lived experience that many men face, often feeling that there isn’t anywhere for them to go. It’s a societal issue that makes it harder for men to articulate even in this post-MeToo society. Campbell’s delivery is pitch-perfect, but even with humorous delivery, he allows the man to show how trapped he is. This is later explored through multiple scene changes in which Koe keeps the man on stage as it goes dark. You can feel the predicament he’s in and the audience's reaction; I only exacerbate the situation as the audience is not willing to grasp the saliency of this moment.
For the woman, Koe is equally sincere as she explores the life path that she’s on. There’s no judgement placed on her, and it would be unfair to suggest that what both the man and woman are experiencing are first-world problems, a term I detest. If anything, their idea of being privileged can itself place pressures that can force us to suppress them. We all lose direction sometimes as we try to find our right path with for the man and woman, Koe puts a firm focus on this friendship which is doing much more for their mental health than either would admit.
A few years ago I saw a poster that read Don’t Grow Up, It’s A Trap, which seems like an apt memory to share as I reflect on Koe’s debt play. Part of the fear society faces as it moves from teenager to young adult to adult is the process of actually growing up and letting go of the past. Koe’s rather smart device of having the two former students living in what can only be described as a flat that is akin to their university days anchors them in this in-between world of youth and adulthood. And this is key to understanding the predicament both the woman and man have been placed in. Koe’s writing, as I have mentioned, is centred around honesty that is aided by a keen understanding of her surroundings. This is wonderfully captured when the man, always in finance mode, helps the woman work out her budget so she can begin to save for her dream. As the woman goes through her monthly budget, it’s easy to see how much of a money trap London can be. Her pursuit of her dreams isn’t limited by funds alone but by the external factors that make living in a city like London worth it…even if we can’t always afford it.
The confidence Koe gives the woman allows her a strength that never undermines her vulnerability. She’s funny; a date she describes to the man is perfection, but she’s also lost and overcompensates by simply living in a way that's not helping her achieve her dreams. When the woman is challenged by the man to face up to some home truths, by unpacking the woman’s fear, Koe blends this heartfelt, delicate scene with unexpected humour. It becomes the woman's eureka moment that shows her there isn't anything to be afraid of in being honest with herself.
"Koe and Campbell have been able to tap into their own experiences to give their characters a deep sense of authenticity."
Koe’s writing and Esdale’s direction bring a great deal of truth to her characters. One feels this indescribable weight around both the woman and man, making it impossible for them to be free. Koe and Esdale illustrate this through the silent scene changes; sometimes it would be the man or the woman alone on the darkened stage doomscrolling or pottering about their less-than-desirable flat. The man and woman seem like opposites; he is introverted, and she is extroverted, but they are both searching for this sense of freedom and happiness that seems almost impossible to achieve. Koe and Campbell have been able to tap into their own experiences to give their characters a deep sense of authenticity. There are moments you feel for them as they try to break free. Breaking the fourth wall in a theatre like Hen & Chicken's seems a given, but the way Koe uses it here helps give more substance to the piece.
I left Are We Doing This Right? Feeling very reflective. For some reason, I found myself thinking of Mary Schmich’s Chicago Tribune column ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY JUST WASTED ON THE YOUNG (turned into The Sunscreen Song). It’s summer 1997, and this song has become an anthem, but Schmich’s text is more powerful, and the history around it even more poignant. It’s written with care and insight into 90s youth who are about to lose what remains of their innocence as social media slowly begins to occupy their every waking moment. Walking away from The Hen & Chicken’s theatre, the part of Schmich’s text that grabbed me was this section:
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most
Interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives.
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.
With this still ringing in my head I sat down to write some notes after a show is to make notes of some of the key themes; then I do research. During this latter part I discovered a 2020 review for Pandora Sykes’ How Do We Know We're Doing It Right? It highlights the challenges and pressures all women, irrespective of their background or supposed privilege, face and that ‘certain type of millennial woman shouldn’t be ignored…’ Koe’s characters shouldn’t be pigeonholed, and coming from any form of privilege shouldn’t disqualify them from sharing the struggles they are facing. Koe has written a play that is as honest and touching as it is funny and relatable. It is a remarkable, insightful play that shows great promise for this debut writer.