Hope Has a Happy Meal (NHB Modern Plays)

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Sign up to unlock our digital magazines and also receive the latest news, events, offers and partner promotions. When protagonist Hope lands at Nike International Airport after 24 years abroad, she knows everything has changed. Although the quest narrative plotting slackens a bit too much towards the end of this 100 minute show, there are plenty of good passages of dialogue, with some lovely humour. 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.

While the narrative is strong and as an audience member I found Hope has a Happy Meal engaging and fun, I did struggle with identifying its key messages. That’s absolutely fine, by the way, but I can’t help feeling that with characters this strong and a story this interesting, it might be a small, missed opportunity. It's an opening that works by holding its nerve, building up the humour by leaving us not knowing where it’s going.Perhaps the most notable example of that is in Lucy Morrison’s direction which is creative, intuitive, and dynamic.

However, there is an underlying unease in this hyper-capitalist world, and a lurking menace that threatens the lives of all of Hope’s companions.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.

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. 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.

With some well-judged cameo characters also providing heightened jabs at the slick emptiness of the service industry, played by the cast in sometimes triple duty (including a particularly versatile Felix Scott), Fowler’s playfully dark humour hits the spot. Along the way, Wizard of Oz style, they meet a scarecrow – sorry – forestry worker (Ali) who is depressed at losing their job when it’s revealed Facebook Forest will be cut down and replaced by flats. 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.