REVIEW: MAYBE, PROBABLY by Eric Henry Sanders at The Old Red Lion Theatre 20 September - 15 October 2022

‘Without a doubt, one leaves this play with the euphoria of time spent in peals of laughter’ ★★★★ ½

I have a few friends who never want to have children. They are not like Kate (Kristy Meyer) and Guy (Corey English) who spend over a decade together without wanting children and as Kate is pushing forty, they decide to let fate decide. As Guy puts it, they “pull the goalie”. Fortunately for them (maybe), they are successful in getting pregnant quickly. Their friends, Zoey (Maria Teresa Creasey) and Hugh (Lance C Fuller) are examples of how life changes after having a child, (daughter Lola, offstage, who has made their lives more frantic), comedically displayed by Zoey pouring wine into an infant's milk cup for Guy.

The beauty of this play is in its humour, which is joyously dolloped over each scene, through all the phases of pre-parenthood, from the not interested to the maybe-interested and trying, to the stages of pregnancy, culminating with labour. I wondered if the playwright had a stand-up comedy background as I recalled similar moments in my own life, now being played out on stage.

The actors possess a credible chemistry, mainly the key couple Kate and Guy, but also with the male friendship (mostly at the horse racing track) and female friendship (which is also a boss-employee relationship). There are slight jealousies and rivalries between Kate and Zoey, but they are surmountable. The ensemble works seamlessly. In one scene, as they queue for the cinema, there is a conversation that reveals a lot about the characters, as they disagree about who should stay home with the baby - and reveal the eye-watering cost of a babysitter in New York ($22/hour!) - though, as usual, it closes with a banging one-liner.

The set is flexible and the crew swiftly transports the audience from a Brooklyn apartment with stuffed animals running rampant to the much more elegantly arrayed home of a childfree couple. From my seat, I had the sensory experience of the scent of a pickle and newsprint wafting towards me, so intimate is this staging.

MAYBE, PROBABLY could be faulted for its light touch on what are often heavier topics: fertility, pregnancy fears, parental roles and work-life balance. The way it makes it so easy to get pregnant at a late stage for our main couple puts its sense of reality into question. On the other hand, that is not the purpose of this play. Many others tackle these issues. There are many important questions posed throughout the play even if they get glossed over slightly, in the form of a sitcom.

Without a doubt, one leaves this play with the euphoria of time spent in peals of laughter. The audience was effusive in its accolades, with applause after each scene.

I can’t help wondering if any of them left with a newfound parental instinct.

Photography: Rah Petherbridge

MAYBE, PROBABLY by Eric Henry Sanders at The Old Red Lion Theatre 20 September - 15 October 2022

Box Office https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/MaybeProbably.html

Performed by Cory English, Christy Meyer, Maria Teresa Creasey, Lance C Fuller

Written by Eric Henry Sanders

Directed by Lydia Parker

Set and Costume Design: Stella Backman

Lighting Design: Jonathan Chan

Sound Designer: Michael Crean

Stage Manager: Willow Weston

Producer: Antonia Georgieva

Reviewed by Mariam Mathew