Inside the Room: The Lads at the Hen and Chickens Theatre

Some of the best theatre experiences happen in the smallest rooms. The Lads, staged at the Hen and Chickens Theatre in Islington as part of Camden Fringe, is one of those pieces that makes full use of its intimate setting, pulling the audience so completely into its world that the transition from a busy London street into an Irish pub feels almost seamless.

Written and created by Tim Charles and directed by Matt Palliser-Kehoe, the play follows four childhood friends who reunite in an upstairs room of a pub after the funeral of one of their brothers. 

As the drinks flow and old hierarchies resurface, one of the group begins to question whether a friend was involved in the sexual assault of a classmate years earlier. 

It is an interrogation of toxic masculinity, male friendship and the cost of staying silent, built around a cast of Brian Raftery as Simon, Andrew Cusack as Martin, James Treacy as Jake, David Watters as Donnie and Sorcha Morgan as Susan, the barmaid.

Credits Zoë Birkbeck

This is a show that completely encapsulates its audience within the walls of the theatre. What begins as a shift from Islington into a distinctly Irish pub setting builds into a note-perfect portrayal of a lads' reunion around a funeral, right down to the rhythm of the banter and the rounds of drinks that never seem to stop coming. 

The four male leads deliver outstanding performances, capturing just how quickly the mood in a room like this can turn when the subject is this delicate, sliding from easy jokes into something far more charged in the space of a single line.

Each of the four finds a distinct register within the group dynamic, so that when old hierarchies start to reassert themselves, it never feels forced, it feels like watching men who have known each other their whole lives fall back into familiar roles. Sorcha Morgan, as the barmaid, gives a beautifully judged performance of that particular way of saying something without quite saying it, that instinct to change the subject rather than confront what everyone already knows. 

Her presence quietly grounds the piece, an outside witness to a conversation that keeps threatening to become a confession. It is the kind of production that stays with you long after you have left the room, exactly what a proper night of fringe theatre should do.

The Lads ran at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, Islington, from 4th to 6th August as part of Camden Fringe.

Rating - 4 stars

Find them: instagram.com/theladsplayuk

Credit Tim Charles