All aboard Newbury’s Watermill theatre for a hen party romp
THREE Hens in a Boat, which opens next Thursday (May 22) at The Watermill is lovingly inspired by Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat. It runs to June 7.
Camille Ucan’s new heartfelt comedy charts the twist and turns of intergenerational family dynamics on a hen do with a difference.
This fresh, female-led adaptation takes the text and flips it on its head, promising a riotous yet deeply touching exploration of family relationships and the importance of speaking your truth.
Navigating the River Thames from Kingston to Henley and almost all the way down the aisle, Claudette, Gloria and Jay’s well-intentioned family outing soon devolves into a series of hilarious misadventures.
Among the mishaps and misunderstandings, the grandmother, mother, and daughter trio ‘s unforgettable boating adventure reveals long-held secrets and touching moments of unspoken truths.
The show stars Camille Ucan as Jay; Verona Rose (BBC Three’s Fully Blown, Netflix’s Top Boy) as Gloria and Ellen O’Grady (Porgy & Bess, Nine) as Claudette.
Making her bold playwriting debut, Camille will also take on the role of Jay in this production. She is best known for her hilarious performances in Tom Basden’s BBC comedy Here We Go and is a series regular in Alex Horne’s CH4 series The Horne Section.
Camille said: “When Jerome K. Jerome wrote Three Men in a Boat, he may not have expected that over a hundred years later it would inspire a play about three ‘hens’ on a hen party!
“Jerome’s romp of a novel provided me the perfect backdrop to celebrate the fun and interrogate the frictions between female family dynamics.
“ I also wanted to explore heritage and how three generations in the same family connect with their own stories, inspired by my Guyanese grandmother and our own hand-me-down history.
“I hope you enjoy watching the characters muse and meander along the River Thames as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. It has been so much fun reimagining this comedy classic for a modern audience and I’m really looking forward to performing alongside the amazing actors we have cast.
“If you’re a die-hard fan of the book then sorry I got rid of all the men but I reckon you’ll still love it!”
This production marks a new collaboration between the Watermill and Reading Rep .
