This is a very sweet comedy-drama from JumpShip Theatre. There’s a warning for scenes of a sexual nature and strong language, but they have such an innocent, polite energy about them that it’s very unlikely to offend (or even register).

Set somewhere that isn’t London, four recent graduates share a flat, struggle to pay the rent, and have worries about work. The jobs market is the antagonist, and as there’s been a reported fifty percent reduction in entry jobs for graduates this year alone, it’s not surprising.

Dan (Sam Bellamy) is in the worst state. He’s applying for hundreds of jobs and mostly failing to get an interview. It’s affecting his mental health and he’s too embarrassed to ask his parents for help. Jonno (Amber Moore) is a freewheeler who happily gets her parents to pay her rent and who wants to have fun in the moment rather than worry about a job. Amelia (Skye Kaune) has been diligent or lucky (depending on your worldview) and has snapped up a new job; she’s fretting about telling Dan and moving to disgusting digs because the rent in London is so exorbitant. Caitlyn (Ellie-Mae Rooke) is overjoyed to get a job in Tesco and pays Dan’s share of the rent out of her minimum wage.

There’s a nice lack of snobbery in the script, no one tries to shame Caitlyn for working in a supermarket, although Dan feels ashamed that he can’t even get that. He worries about AI filtering out his CV, and Jonno recommends getting AI to write the CV which conjures up an odd future where everything is written by AI and read by AI and the most anyone does is glance at the summary. They have complaints, but they mostly accept the world the way it is, and are trying to make the best of it, which feels rather sad. They have parents to fall back on, but if this play had been written by almost any other generation at least one character would be planning a revolution.

Employment and landlord horrors aside, they’re an easy going bunch, having game nights and spag bol fights and raising their plant, Maria. The acting is unpolished, but authentic, and the music choices give it the atmosphere of a studio sitcom from the 1980s (which is a compliment). The strings of A4 paper hanging from the set’s ceiling are a nice nod to the ancient advice to paper your walls with rejections as a way of coping with them. Hopefully they won’t have too many to cope with.

After Careful Consideration is at Theatre 1 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall until Sat 29 Aug 2026