Writer: Ann O’Reilly
Director: Matt Peover
“I just want to do something that makes me happy, y’know.”
Debut drama from London-dwelling Irish medic Ann O’Reilly, Oh. Right. is an anguished and amusing diatribe about the current lot of professional women in their mid-30s, mired in deeply unsatisfying careers and relationships with men who expect them to engage in sacrificial motherhood.
Centred on the experiences of weary paediatric doctor Grace, the action takes place over half a dozen scenes played out in the flat she shares with partner Harry and co-worker Eva, all disaffected with their careers and lives in general. Desperately attempting to navigate through this generationally unfair era of retired parents “living the dream”, none of them are able to find what they want.
Grace yearns for excitement beyond in-clinic haemorrhoids and fungal foot infections, expressing disgust at declining patient standards: “Can you imagine our parents bringing us into A&E with a snotty nose?”
Compounding her misery, Harry is broody – “I saw a dad walking round the park with a baby carrier and I’m so excited for that to be me!” – but, of course, Grace isn’t up for “Donating my body to make another human.”
Meanwhile, Eva despairs at the lack of marriageable doctors among hordes of “douchebags and no-gos”: “I’ll be lucky to get a good one after divorce, with no kids.” There’s a lot of rapid-fire banter with Grace about the seemingly unprecedented awfulness they and their female peers are enduring – “We’re literally despised” – as well as the false promise of becoming a trad wife to escape the trauma.
Plot twists are few in number; much of the content here arises from comedic Irish-in-England observations: “Brits are fine one-on-one but horrific in groups: that ‘better than you’ energy.”
Mimicking the characters’ lives Oh. Right. is all somewhat underwhelming. It’s reminiscent of Adam Kay’s This is Going to Hurt, but doesn’t match the highs and lows of humour and horror.
To be fair, however, the piece is clearly a work in progress (quietly) billed as ‘a staged reading’. Commendably, the players know enough of their lines to avoid breaks in the action, and are able to use their scripts sparingly.
The ensemble melds well: cast members trade insults like old friends. Clara Harte as Grace portrays end-of-tether exhaustion and anger convincingly, Faoileann Cunningham brings cheeky repartee and welcome optimism, and James Downie is suitably hangdog and moping in the slightly underdrawn role of Harry.
Ann O’Reilly (also a podcaster) clearly has a ready audience: the shows are selling out. She’d benefit from canvassing her followers as to how Oh. Right. should develop. They might suggest creating deeper character backgrounds and insights, more incidents to offer a sense of narrative, and a better paced-out ending: as things stand, it’s rather abrupt. Legible programme notes (the font size is tiny!) would probably also be appreciated.
Oh. Right. is genuinely thought-provoking and funny in places, with certain aspects worth dwelling on and carrying forward.
Runs until 30 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
