How to Date follows the lives of two young women – roommates Clarissa and Emily – as they navigate tumultuous life in London.
Emily (Stephanie McNeil) is the more naïve of the two. Having moved to London from Cheltenham, she is coasting by one her father’s money while pursuing a career as an actor. Clarissa (Helin Ekin) is more cynical, having come from a less privileged background and grown up in London itself. She tries to present as impassive and cool, but it’s clear that she’s not as stoic as she’d like to let on. Despite Emily and Clarissa’s differences, the actors’ strong performances and the sharp script (written by Stephanie McNeil) really sell the friendship between the two young women. The actors have great chemistry, the back-and-forth banter is funny and relatable, and it’s clear that they have each other’s backs. By so successfully selling the audience on this relationship early on, the rest of the play is gripping. As the women drift apart and their friendship is challenged, the audience are invested in finding out whether the friendship can survive.
The play spans multiple interlinked episodes in the lives of these characters over the course of a couple of years. Like real life, the plot meanders without a clear narrative structure, but the well-written characters – replete with clearly-defined wants, needs, and flaws – keep things from feelings aimless. As they each encounter the various problems that life throws at them, it’s engaging to watch them react and develop.
Seyi Ogunniyi and Danny Jeffs give excellent supporting performances as the various male characters in the play, with each character feeling distinct thanks to skilful acting and the well-written script. Each of these male characters embodies a different way in which men can harm women, from inadvertent harm caused by emotional immaturity, selfishness, and lack of empathy, all the way to overt misogyny and sexual violence.
Isabel Steuble-Johnson’s direction is very effective. Despite many of the scenes merely consisting of people having conversations, Steuble-Johnson’s staging keeps these scenes dynamic, with characters moving around and interacting with props (especially glasses and bottles) in a way that feels natural. As a result, the more still and serious moments usually feel all the more impactful by contrast. There were one or two moments where the quieter moments of the play could have been given room to breathe, but the overall effect was that the play felt brisk and energetic.
The play has a deliberately exaggerated style, and a darkly comedic tone. At times it feels like a sitcom, with characters behaving in a slightly cartoonish way. Generally, this feels deliberate and effective, but there are a handful of moments where the dialogue feels a little too outlandish and therefore incongruous with the rest of the play. The characters of Emily and Henry stand out as being more cartoonish than the other characters, though generally this is played for deliberate comic effect. Not all the jokes in the play land, but there are plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes to make up for it. Other than a handful of moments, the jokes don’t detract from the more serious and emotional moments; McNeil’s script and Steuble-Johnson’s direction combine to pull off a skilful balance between levity and sincerity.
Overall, How to Date’s engaging script, skilful acting, and dynamic direction all come together to create a play that is gripping, funny, poignant, and well worth seeing. Despite a few moments where the darkly comic tone skews too far towards the cartoonish, the play manages to sensitively explore serious themes while also telling a gripping story.
How to Date runs until 10th September at The Jack Studio Theatre (10th) and The Bridge House Theatre (11th) with tickets available at https://brockleyjack.co.uk/ and https://thebridgehousetheatre.co.uk/
Reviewer: Charles Edward Pipe
Reviewed: 9th September 2025
North West End UK Rating: