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Stuart Piper for Cole Kitchenn presents the World Premiere of
Hatched 'n' Dispatched
"They don’t write ‘em like this any more and more’s the bloody pity, for in his debut full length play Michael Kirk together with Gemma Page has captured a slice of British social history, hinting at the incisiveness that once hallmarked the BBC’s Play For Today and which latterly Mike Leigh can occasionally capture on screen. Hatched ‘n’ Dispatched is glorious new writing that deserves a longer life – either on a West End stage or maybe even on screen. This play is all about the gripping close up of intimate performance and agonised humanity. It is unmissable drama."
★★★★★ Jonathan Baz
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"Michael Kirk’s in-the-round production blends comedy and drama perfectly and is brought to life by a splendid cast. Special mention goes to PJ McEvoy, whose set and costume designs complement all the meticulous period detail in the script."
★★★★ The Public Reviews
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"A magnificent piece of writing, a real tour-de-force from Wendi Peters and the entire wonderful cast and a superb production all round that I would have no problem recommending to each and every one of you. This really is theatre at its absolute best."
★★★★★ LondonTheatre1
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"A family gathering from hell - Gemma Page and Michael Kirk write with notable polish. Slapstick, sexual farce, pop nostalgia, cruel chauvinism: here is a nicely garish domestic fist-chewer. It's sharp entertainment...superbly acted by a cast that barely puts a lacquered eyebrow wrong."
★★★★Daily Mail
"A spiky little slice of family life by Gemma Page and Michael Kirk"
Whatsonstage
"Its broad, blunt humour recalls John Godber, its raucous ripeness Jim Cartwright. There’s also a whiff of Mike Leigh in its snickering at social pretension. Kirk’s production is acted with verve."
The Times
"Kirk’s in-the-round production blends comedy and drama perfectly and is brought to life by a splendid cast. Special mention goes to PJ McEvoy, whose set and costume designs complement all the meticulous period detail in the script."
★★★★The Public Reviews
"Credit too to casting director Anne Vosser for again assembling a perfect troupe and to PJ McEvoy whose set – and it all takes place in Arthur and Irene’s Front Room – is for once an economic design that is completely justified and in context and whose costume design, including some stunning stilettos, nails the era perfectly. Most of all, further credit to Kirk for directing his own work with such measured assurance."
★★★★★ Jonathan Baz
"What grand entertainment! It's very funny indeed - I can see a West End transfer working well, especially if the same cast is retained"
Broadwayworld
"Wonderfully domineering work from Wendi Peters as a gorgon mother-in-law."
Evening Standard
"Ex-Corrie star Wendi Peters has a ball as DorothyMavis: deliciously malevolent as she circles her hapless relatives like a shark."
The Stage
"Widowed mother Irene is a picture of fragility in the hands of Wendy Morgan."
Official London Theatre
"The wonderful Wendy Morgan as the stoically tight-lipped widow in a veil and pill box hat."
Whatsonstage
"Kevin McGowan turns in a brilliant Edward – all trousers but no backbone."
Jonathan Baz
"Diana Vickers is an amusingly obtuse but heartwarmingly devoted Susan."
Official London Theatre
"In a cast in which every performer shines, Matthew Fraser Holland is laugh-out-loud hilarious as the browbeaten pickle-spilling other half of Vicky Binns’ sexually naïve Madeleine."
Official London Theatre
"Peters holds it all together with aplomb, and there’s vivid work, too, from Vicky Binns as her overlooked daughter, Wendy Morgan as miserable Irene and Danielle Flett as the smart London daughter-in-law whom Dorothy violently envies."
The Times
"Danielle Flett is both feisty and fragile as his tortured spouse."
Official London Theatre
"James Wrighton is a frighteningly volatile Kenneth."
Official London Theatre