The winning scene that opens Tom Fowler’s new work proves we are in the hands of a writer with a knack for comedy as well as a cast who can deliver on it. It introduces us to Hope, a woman returning to her home country for the first time in 24 years, to find it has become a corporation-run police state.
When Hope befriends Isla, a young woman raising her baby nephew, the two quickly find themselves on the run. 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.
Laura Checkley’s charismatic protagonist makes a delightful pairing with Mary Malone’s Isla as the two negotiate a feverish escape involving train toilets and unlikely underground resistance volunteers, picking up a depressed but terribly sweet forest ranger (Nima Taleghani) along the way.
The resultant escapade feels part Thelma and Louise, part reverse-Wizard of Oz, and Lucy Morrison’s direction neatly balances the comic beats with darker material, including a nightmarish gameshow hallucination. Felix Scott gives a panoply of excellent performances, from a brutal cop to a hopeless ex-husband, and there is enough vim and vigour to the production that when Isla announces that “this is, like, the best adventure ever!” you’re just about prepared to overlook the horrible thing that’s being sanctioned in the basement.
However, the content-light third act loses pace and exposes some fairly blunt messaging. By the time Hope arrives at her ultimate destination with what her sister Lor describes as her “ticking time-bomb of chaotic shit”, the script is running on empty.
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. All we end up learning is that everyone is finding life hard right now, what with climate change, fascists and whatnot. But this is still a witty endeavour, sharply directed and joyously performed.
• At the Royal Court, London, until 8 July
