Comedian Katy Brand’s debut play has the fizzy air of a sitcom. But as the three women referenced in the title discuss their dreams and frustrations, it reveals a grander ambition — to be a portrait of inter-generational misunderstandings, not least about feminism.
Debbie Chazen’s warm yet careworn Suzanne is holed up in an expensive hotel room. It’s the eve of her wedding to Gary, a kindly dullard we hear about but never see, and she’s sharing her final night of single life with her teenage daughter Laurie and immaculate, uptight mother Eleanor.
As the alcohol flows, so do the one-liners. Eleanor, played with wicked relish by Anita Dobson, is an encyclopaedia of grievances, while Laurie treats her elders to snapshots of 21st-century sex — a world of dating apps and gender fluidity — and her vision of an egalitarian future where everyone’s part-robot and babies grow in artificial wombs.
Secrets, lies and long-standing tensions are gradually exposed, and there’s a satisfying chemistry between the performers in Michael Yale’s production. Yet while there are some good jokes, the characters are mouthpieces, and that’s especially true of the youngest. Maisie Richardson-Sellers has an appealingly relaxed stage presence, but the purpose of Laurie’s existence seems to be to provide an earnest tutorial about millennials’ appetite for freedom and openness, and the debate that it prompts feels superficial.
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