Hope Theatre -until 16 May 2026
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
It’s Saph’s birthday, and she’s having a night out with her mates, but in Eva Regan’s play lifechanging revelations create drama amongst the hilarious and sometimes excruciating drunken chaos as the girls retreat to the haven of the toilets.
Cracking tunes play as the audience enters, with the cast celebrating on the dancefloor, spilling drinks and shouting at the DJ. Cian Feasey’s lighting and sound is fantastic with music blaring and lights blazing as the action switches from the toilets to the dancefloor smoothly and swiftly under Blair McAlpine’s assured direction.
Saph (Emily Puttick), Liv (Áine O’Neill Mason) and Flick (Eva Regan) are best friends and, between talking how much they love each other, swigging from hip flasks and taking drugs, Saph discovers that Liv has been shagging Jack (Jordan Peedell). A positive pregnancy test results in some deep drunken thinking and soul searching about Liv’s future, as well as lots of mockery about her taste in men. But Saph and her boyfriend Archie (Jacob Hutchings) are also keeping a secret from the others. Also celebrating with the group is another boy (Kieran Robson) – Saph is his boss and it is made clear from a scene at the urinals that the other 2 lads don’t really know him.
Regan’s writing is realistic, raw and raunchy – with a fierce sense of deep love and friendship shining through. The character group is instantly recognisable and the cast lean into the personality types brilliantly. Puttick is a lovable mix of den mother and head girl as the calm centre of the trio of girls, O’Neill Mason is a hilariously chaotic bunch of drunkenness and hormones and Regan is arch and anarchic as drama queen Flick, with some wonderfully revealed nuances as she holds back her trauma so as not to spoil Saph’s night – whether that is her choice or because she is following Archie’s request is not clarified, but either way, she deserves more credit than her friends give her. You just hope that she does actually talk about it tomorrow with Liv…
Drunk Girls Cry Here is a fantastic representation of friendship, frivolity, and moving on. Frank and very very funny, this marks Eva Regan as a writer to watch out for.