REVIEW: TELL ME YOU’LL THINK ABOUT IT by Lyndsey Ruiz at Hen and Chickens Theatre 11 – 15 March 2025

‘powerful performances’ ★★★ ½ 

The latest production from Quid Pro Quo is a taut two hander about love, ambition and fallibility. 

When a young, jaded theatre reviewer and her partner return from a night at the theatre, they find that they have a very different response to the play. As the night wears on they also discover other dissimilarities between them. At this stage in their lives their ambitions are separated by a gulf. David is ready to get married and start a family, but Phoebe says she’s too young, there’s so much more to explore in life. Will they stay together? 

The play engages immediately with an interesting discussion about trigger warnings and how much they spoil the opportunity for a play to surprise its audience. ‘It should feel dangerous’ says Phoebe.  Strangely, against that thought, TELL ME YOU’LL THINK ABOUT IT doesn’t deliver any shocks to the system, but we know that the play is bang up to date when the couple mention ‘speak your truth’ and other fashionable phrases. Its also a neat reversal to have the woman wanting to explore opportunities while the man prefers to settle down. There is no doubt that this is a play for today although the philosophical debate raises some ancient ideas, quoting Aristotle’s diktat that the main object of life is ‘to be happy’. 

The play that the pair have just seen is Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. it seems that the writer Lyndsey Ruiz is giving a nod to the kind of debates we might enjoy in ancient Greek Theatre which offer opposing ideals. In Greek theatre is it usually predetermined by a supernatural power. Are the pair able to make their own choices or are they victims of fate?

Ruiz’s script is promising, full of ideas and the occasional striking line, but it is her performance as an actress, that sizzles. Boyan Petrov as David is an excellent foil for her excitable energy. He’s got a stability which allows the pair to have a ‘opposites attract’ kind of relationship. The pair are totally believable as lovers with a terrific fission between them.  This is the plays main strength and it is a credit to director Sarah Majland that the performances, with very little in the way of lighting and sound to offer added impact, held interest for the audience. 

Producers Quid Pro Quo who brought us THE HOUSE WE INHERIT and A WOMAN ON FIRE are certainly an interesting company with powerful performances and original work.  They have much to offer. 

TELL ME YOU’LL THINK ABOUT IT by Lyndsey Ruiz at Hen and Chickens Theatre 11 – 15 March 2025

Cast and Creatives:

Written by Lyndsey Ruiz

Directed by Sarah Majland

Cast:

Phoebe: Lyndsey Ruiz

David: Boyan Petrov

Produced by Quid Pro Quo Theatre