Writer: Samantha O’Rourke
Director: Milly Sweeney
Anyone who survived high school drama classes will instantly recognise the tropes: synchronised movement, dramatic unison speaking, and heavy-handed moral warnings. In Hot Mess Productions’ Our Town Needs A Nando’s, a group of small-town schoolgirls attempt to satirise this exact style while collaborating on a class project. Yet, in a frustrating stroke of irony, the production itself frequently falls into the very traps it parodies, relying on surplus physical theatre sequences that feel overly serious and disconnected from the text.
The story follows four friends stuck in a dead-end town with nothing to do after 6pm except hang out at McDonald’s. When new girl Chloe (Eilidh Rose) arrives, she inspires the group to imagine what their town could be. However, tensions flare as group leader Rachel (Lauren Mills) casts suspicion on Chloe’s motives, creating an atmosphere that initially feels like a conventional adolescent TV drama.
The narrative takes a stark, jarring turn in its second half as the girls recount personal experiences of sexual assault. Here, the production finds genuine weight, shedding its amateur veneer for moments of raw vulnerability. Yet, as the script rushes to pack in closeted romance, betrayal, and a dramatic cliffside confrontation involving teen pregnancy, the plot becomes increasingly chaotic and overstuffed.
While the young cast bring clear passion to the stage, the show’s sudden tonal lurches leave its weightiest themes feeling rushed rather than fully explored. Like the Peri-Peri spice scale it nods to, Our Town Needs A Nando’s ultimately lands squarely at a mild.
Runs until 15 August 2026 | Image: Contributed
