Laura Checkley as protagonist Hope is endearing, down to earth and funny, especially when she busts out the dance moves. Hope (Laura Checkley) tells a long joke about a frustrated angel caught up in heavenly bureaucracy to the person sitting next to her on her flight. When Hope befriends Isla, a young woman raising her baby nephew, the two quickly find themselves on the run. Nevertheless, Fowler never loses his finely tuned sense of humour, leavening out the more overwrought moments with a welcome wryness. They have everything from basic sourdoughs and baguettes to ciabatta, mini savoury filled focaccias and even Breton Kouign Amann.

He gives the actors lots to work with, and Royal Court Associate Director Lucy Morrison adds physical flair and playfulness to the piece. Amaka Okafor is understandably incensed as Hope’s long time abandoned sister, who has turned to drink to drown her sorrows.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. Lor is angry with Hope because she feels betrayed and abandoned when Hope left — and 24 years is a long time to wait for reconciliation. There are some fantastical moments, including a bizarre gameshow hosted by a makeshift Ronald McDonald which doesn’t add anything, and some soap opera drama cliches are thrown into the plot (think Chekhov’s gun) which don’t feel fully earned.

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 playtext has subtle references to the long tradition of new writing, by Caryl Churchill, Sarah Kane and Simon Stephens — as well more recent plays by Alistair McDowall and Rory Mullarkey. Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.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. But her visit becomes considerably more dramatic after she meets waitress Isla (Mary Malone) – who’s fleeing with her baby nephew from his father, a police officer who she says killed her sister – and a suicidal, soon-to-be-former park ranger, Alex (Nima Taleghani).

Follow Hope on a surreal and frenetic quest through a hyper-capitalist country in this new play by Tom Fowler , directed by Royal Court Associate Director, Lucy Morrison. On their way to find the Strawberry Fields commune of Hope’s youth, they are joined by redundant forest ranger Ali, but things soon get very complicated. Hope is helped not only by Isla, but also by a random train passenger, a trucker and of course by Ali.

Photograph: Helen Murray View image in fullscreen Cheerfully fluorescent unease … Laura Checkley in Hope Has a Happy Meal. 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. Naomi Dawson’s set design uses height to separate spaces and it is incredibly effective, providing flexible building blocks for their creative collaborators to play with. Lighting design by Anna Watson is equally impressive, with LED giving neon vibes and more haze than a Jimi Hendrix concert.