Following an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. hits Soho Theatre. This extremely solid playwrighting debut from Hannah Caplan delivers humour and heart, in a clever meta-theatrical package.
The play follows Grace and Eli, whose longstanding but arguably co-dependant friendship is tested by creeping romantic and sexual attraction. The story nonlinearly jumps around across several years of jealousy, hookups, falling out, making up, and general will-they-won’t-they drama. Meta-theatrically, following months of no-contact with Eli, Grace writes a play to help her process her feelings. THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. is that play. While the plot bears a resemblance to When Harry Met Sally, Caplan takes a much grittier – though still very funny – approach to the subject matter.
Although on paper the plot is repetitive – Grace and Eli meet up, there’s sexual and romantic tension, communication breaks down, repeat – Hannah Caplan and director Douglas Clarke-Wood continually find ways of making the show feel exciting and unpredictable. They lean into the meta-theatrical framing to bring a lot of creative gags and devices to the stage through puppetry and projection. For example, in a scene that is hilarious, poignant, and relatable, subtitles are projected that express unspoken subtext, while the spoken dialogue is completely different. This scene very funny and also reinforces the themes of the play around communication and repression.
Actors Amaia Naima Aguinaga and Francis Nunnery give great performances as Grace and Eli respectively and have good chemistry together. They each manage to strike a balance in portraying their characters’ best and worst qualities, in such a way that they come across as authentic, nuanced, and deeply human.
Overall, THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. uses its clever meta-theatrical framing to explore a believable relationship between two flawed characters. It is both funny and moving, and consistently creative in its writing and staging.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME. runs until April 18th at Soho Theatre, with tickets available at https://sohotheatre.com/dean-street/
Reviewer: Charles Edward Pipe
Reviewed: 30th March 2026
North West End UK Rating:
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