Hope Has a Happy Meal (NHB Modern Plays)

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Felix Scott is hilarious as the smooth talking Koka Kola Airlines captain, who multi-roles as Wayne the murderous cop (Wayne incidentally gets a national holiday in his name by the end of the play). At the very least you will have a brilliant couple of hours of theatrical entertainment with clowns, knives, guns, beautifully raw emotional dialogue, great performances, and some exquisite nightclub dancing.

She dominates scenes in the most unsuspecting of ways, empathy and sincerity etched across her face.We don’t want to spoil anyone’s experience of a new play at the Royal Court and therefore we avoid giving too much away when promoting the play.

That the characters live in an ultra-capitalist society where all landscapes and landmarks have been bought by conglomerates has no real bearing on the plot, except when characters get to say silly place names like Disney Quarry, Samsung Central and Nike International. Naomi Dawson’s design combines with Annie May Fletcher’s sound to establish just the right note of cheerfully fluorescent unease for the none-too-distant dystopia Fowler has imagined. I really like the way that Fowler parodies the banal pronouncements of those in power, and his evident sympathy for the marginalized and the needy.A surreal and frenetic quest through a hyper-capitalist country, Tom Fowler's play Hope has a Happy Meal premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2023, directed by Lucy Morrison, in a co-production with SISTER. Early on in the 90-minute runtime, their journey feels like a cross between ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – a sort of fantastical secular allegory for the world we’re essentially living in now. In the end I found it playful but not an effective critique of capitalism, nor a particularly hopeful piece about redemption, nor a strong rejection or message about police brutality or domestic abuse.

Isla’s sister was murdered by an abusive partner, and she is harbouring the couple’s child – on the run from relentlessly evil father, Wayne. The reveal to Hope’s backstory isn’t as interesting as the shenanigans that preceded it, and we never discover what has motivated her to come back at this particular moment. Perhaps its strongest message is about community togetherness and the power of people, though it never doubles down. Not only that, Fletcher managed to feature a baby crying, frequently, without it irritating me; quite the feat!If the show wasn’t such fun you could dismiss this as naive wishful thinking, but that would be to underrate the power of being kind in everyday life. Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. This comes into play when a guilt-stricken Hope dreams about an uncannily familiar red, white and yellow clown – complete with hilariously bleeped out name – aggressively judging her failings. And there is a lot to enjoy in Lucy Morrison’s energetic and often funny production, whose set by Naomi Dawson is versatile enough to host what is in effect a Thelma-and-Louise-style road movie lit up by the neon glare of American culture, with a kinda Big Lebowski vibe.