By Neil Durham (Review ticket)

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Opened Wednesday 9 April 2025, runs through 26 April 2025 RUNTIME: 85 minutes (no interval)

‘All time spent not being in love is time spent queuing,’ observes writer/star Kember as neurotic overthinker Cashel in this laugh-out-loud funny romantic comedy.

• Read on for reasons including if you’re looking for a comedy with lots of heart and even more laughs this could be just the ticket for you

Cashel is 30, has spilt up with his girlfriend of 8 years and moves in with his best friend Honey, a lifelong bachelor and expert at the art of the booty call.

When Honey, given life by Sex Education‘s Kedar Williams-Stirling (Red Pitch, Bush Theatre), starts to fall for his new squeeze Maya, played by a magnetic Adeyinka Akinrinade, and she wants to set up Cashel with her student psychology friend Eloise what could possibly go wrong?

Tiger Free’s Eloise doesn’t want a long-term boyfriend, is challenged at every turn by the emotional Cashel who falls quickly in love with her and we can’t help but feel for writer Kember’s character because he knows this part so well he is utterly engrossing.

The play is 1-act on a box set and unravels in Honey and Cashel’s shared flat as a series of booty calls involving both couples near their often hilarious conclusions.

The set-up is like a millenial version of TV’s Not Going Out and by that we mean it’s set in a flat that is shared awkwardly but also that it has a rapid-fire gag rate and this press night audience were laughing out loud with us during much of this.

Thanks For Having Me also had a few neat twists along the way that we won’t spoil but we did enjoy the will-they-won’t they Friends-type play-off between Honey and Maya towards this hilarious comedy’s close which also had us rooting for the couple’s future.

Tiger Free (pictured right above) was recognised in Variety’s Young Hollywood Impact Report and next stars opposite Pierce Brosnan and Lily James (All About Eve, Noel Coward Theatre), who we are sitting in the audience behind, in the reboot of Cliffhanger.

Kember’s previous play, February Face, enjoyed a sell-out run at the Old Red Lion and the King’s Head Theatre, was nominated for a Standing Ovation Award for New Writing, and was later optioned as a TV pilot by a production company. 

Thanks For Having Me transfers to the Riverside Studios from the Main House at King’s Head Theatre.

Kember’s is clearly a name to watch for in the future as is Tiger Free’s and if you’re looking for a comedy with lots of heart and even more laughs this could be just the ticket for you.

• Main pictures by Oliver Kember and courtesy Riverside Studios, Hammersmith Tickets
• Have you seen a Riverside Studios show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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