Review: Drunk Girls Cry Here, The Hope Theatre

The women’s bathroom has long been a space of camaraderie, shared secrets and emotional explorations. On almost every night out, I found myself talking to other women in the bathroom, both friends and strangers, sharing secrets, being an emotional crutch or hyping each other up. Drunk Girls Cry Here takes that phenomenon and brings it to the stage of the Hope Theatre. 

‘Birthdays and drama go hand in hand’ – certainly in this case. The play follows three women, Saph (Emily Puttick), Flick (Eva Regan) and Liv (Áine O’Neill Mason), as they celebrate Saph’s twenty-eighth birthday. What starts as a fun-filled night of dancing, quickly turns into a deeply emotional confessional in the girls’ bathroom. Fuelled by alcohol and drugs, they each share a secret. In between these confessionals are scenes of dancing and flirting to a fabulous soundtrack that includes ABBA, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan just to name a few. Lighting is used well here to emulate a club environment. The constant fluttering between the two allows for good pacing and much needed relief from the heavy themes discussed. It is part feel good, part emotionally charged, exploring a multitude of themes that include consent, pregnancy scares, drug use and navigating adulthood. 

A toilet placed in the middle of the stage becomes the main prop, funnily enough the second show I’ve seen in the past few months that uses a toilet as its central prop. It acts as a safe haven; a communal space for female friendship and camaraderie. This singular prop brings the women together, escaping from the booming music outside to support each other through a variety of problems. 

Regan stands out with her performance as Flick, a loud, energetic and hilarious character whose bounding energy is infectious. Also the writer of the play, which is largely well-constructed, she uses humour to elicit belly laughs from the audience and provide respite from otherwise heavy subject matter. With a short run time of forty-five minutes, the production would benefit from being slightly longer, to enable further exploration of the problems that the women face. In particular, a scene that features some uncomfortable depictions of non-consensual acts is never fully discussed between the women. It is left ‘to talk about tomorrow’, but given they support each other through various other problems, this feels like an issue both pertinent and crucial to explore within the context of the play. 

Drunk Girls Cry Here is a great depiction of what happens inside the women’s bathroom. As the locus for female friendship and emotional support, it enables an exploration of various subject matters. Though these themes could be explored more, the play is an enjoyable yet emotional interrogation of female camaraderie.

Written and directed by Eva Regan.

Drunk Girls Cry Here has completed its current run.