Review: Maybe, The Hen and Chickens Theatre

Steven Rayner’s Maybe is an odd thing. It starts like a ‘Ted Talk’, turns into a confessional and ends up rather as if Rayner is using his slot at Camden Fringe as a bit of therapy. The problem is we are the ones paying to be there. This show seems to sit between stand-up and theatre, but never quite decides which it wants to be, so instead it flops around in indecision.

The premise is simple. Steven is a people pleaser, clearly too lacking in self-belief so instead does whatever is needed to please others. And we are not just talking little things; driving his (now ex) wife to meet her lover is rather extreme. But when his current girlfriend suggests they have an open relationship maybe it’s time he tried to change. 

The major problem is the shows overall presentation. It’s fine to deliver a show as a confessional to the audience but it needs some panache, some energy. Both are seriously lacking here. It’s delivered very much as a man downtrodden by life, a man who just takes what’s coming to him, a man with no energy. Yes, this is the character that Rayner wants to present, but the dullness overshadows everything, making the whole an effort to sit through. A scene of watching Rayner eat a bowl of jelly as a child to show how he just does what is expected of him begins amusingly enough but surely a smaller bowl would have stopped the scene going on way too long. Given the show is little over 35 minutes, spending more than a couple of minutes doing nothing but staring at a bowl of jelly is not time well spent. The point is made after a few spoonful’s, so move on. Herein lies the problem, even a good idea needs to be executed properly to work.  

It’s a shame, really, that the delivery is so lacklustre because there are signs Rayner can write a good yarn. His opening gambit of “I’m really not good at sex” should be comedy gold, especially as he then informs us, “I really tried to learn how to do it.” But it’s all too flat; the laughter both lines received never grabbed hold of and built upon.

Equally poorly delivered is a phone call with his mother. For unfathomable reasons a decision is made to pipe his mother’s voice through the phone itself and not the theatre PA system, leaving it faint and tinny, not helpful when you are in a theatre where you do have to sometimes battle with the traffic noise from outside. It is however the most vital scene of the show as his mum’s advice of just be yourself seems very much at the heart of what Maybe wants to be. 

Maybe could be a good show, the writing points to that. But in presenting it in this lacklustre format it does it no justice. It feels as if Rayner had a good idea but not the experience or support of a strong director to turn it into something good. The script has potential, but the performance does not.  

Written by: Steven Rayner
Produced by: Dandelion Productions

Maybe has completed its run at Camden Fringe.