Three Hens in a Boat review – a small intergenerational comedy making big waves

With its clever rhyming title inspired by Jerome K Jerome’s classic comic novel, this delicious all-girl riff on Three Men in a Boat is actually set on the Thames, almost certainly near Reading itself.

Did the idea of the rhyme inspire writer-performer Camille Ucan’s narrative of three women on an outdoor hen do on a boat – a skiff called “Jerome”? It is no spoiler to reveal that the trio are three generations of the same family, and it is their connection that stands centre stage here, although they do let slip telling details of their relationships with their partners.

But before we actually meet the characters, the audience has a chance to take in aptly-named designer Jasmine Swan’s glorious riverbank setting, with a brilliant pink sky shining above a painted willow tree twinned with a physical one on the bank of grass and flowers where the eponymous boat is moored. Birdsong and engine noises are both part of Ella Wahlström’s evocative soundscape.

Ucan herself plays Jay, the granddaughter of Claudette (Ellen O’Grady) and daughter of Gloria (Verona Rose), so it is satisfying to meet her first as she arrives on the bank clad in a gloriously voluminous hooded purple cape. She immediately reveals her Gen Z credentials as she takes out her phone for a selfie.

She is soon joined by Gloria and Claudette, both dressed in brilliant colours, especially Gloria in a rainbow-coloured silk caftan (costumes also by Swan).

So they are all set for a fun family outing. Or are they? There are jokes about Titanic and Jaws as they survey what suddenly looks like a very small boat for three, conversely, a challenge to manoeuvre on the water for inexperienced oarswomen.

The journey on which they are all about to embark is marriage – this is indeed their hen do. As they share confidences and have inter-generational disagreements, we find out that Jay is engaged to Liam, Gloria to Rowena, and Claudette to her long-term partner Trevor.

All three are impressive working women. Claudette is a midwife from Trinidad and before that, Guyana; Gloria an artist and Jay still a science student, but with a bright future. Claudette seems the most troubled, even angry.

So, how do they all get on? Well, this is no honeymoon, and the practicalities of getting the boat afloat are graphically daunting, but they certainly float the audience’s boat.

It is those familial relationships, however, that really ignite the action, so that the audience is grounded even as we laugh with delight at Ucan’s script and scenario. Oh, and if you are wondering about Montmorency the dog in Jerome’s original – he is present, though not entirely correct.