Review: Thanks for Having Me, Riverside Studios

Thanks for Having Me arrives at Riverside Studios with a (mostly) new cast and a bigger set, after opening at the King’s Head Theatre earlier this year. It’s a rapid upwards move for a production and demonstrates its potential. This is a show with a big personality and a sharp comedic voice, and it thrives on the energy of a highly receptive audience. The script is the star here: it’s laugh-out-loud funny, line after line after line. You know you’re watching a winner when the audience are laughing within seconds and applauding between scenes. 

Keelan Kember, who also penned the play, again takes centre stage as Cashel, a recently dumped thirty-something trying to make sense of his romantic life and his feelings. At the outset, we’re told he’s reeling from the end of an eight-year relationship. But while that information is offered up in dialogue, it’s never really felt. Within minutes he’s mooning over his new date, Eloise, and by the time we reach the end of the brisk 90-minute run time, he’s transformed into a liberated playboy dispensing dating wisdom to the men around him. It’s a jarring shift that underlines the play’s key weakness: for all its snappy banter, it rarely shows us what its characters are feeling, only what they’re saying.

And yet, the laughs are plentiful and well-earned. Kember has a sharp ear for dialogue and a strong grasp of comic timing. The script is loaded with keen observations about modern dating, male emotional illiteracy, and the awkward rituals of romantic entanglement. As an older man, it was interesting to see that some things never change, despite the advent of online dating. Nevertheless, it was also evident that such starting points for drama lead to well-worn paths and need to bring something fresh to the party, which this mostly does. Thanks for Having Me looks and feels very much like a sitcom pilot: it’s built on a recognisable structure, with distinct character types and rhythmic, punchline-driven exchanges. On those terms, it’s a highly effective piece of work.

Kedar Williams-Stirling is a highlight as Honey, Cashel’s flatmate, exuding warmth and mischief in equal measure. His winning, but ultimately clumsy, recipe for successful dating is very well observed and well played. Adeyinka Akinrinade as Maya and Nell Tiger Free as Eloise deliver solid performances with what they’re given, but their roles are light on jokes and it felt at times like Kember had Googled “how modern women feel about relationships” when writing their lines, making them more dramatic devices rather than characters. Another mis-step was the joke about AIDS. It felt out of place in such a lightweight piece, in poor taste, and not based on any observable reality.  

Thanks for Having Me is, above all, a good time. It’s smart, fast, and genuinely funny, with a clear voice and a lot of charm. But it ultimately plays it safe, opting for laughs over introspection. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable watch, just don’t expect it to leave a lasting impression.

Directed by: Monica Cox
Written by: Keelan Kember
Produced by: Kit Bromovsky
Set design by: Ellie Wintour
Sound and lighting design by: Matt Karmios
Associate designer & sound by: Matt Gibson
Artwork design by: Malcolm Reid

Thanks for Having Me plays at Riverside Studios until Saturday 26 April.