By Grace Hatchell– The Hatchell With The Satchel
There’s something deliciously unsettling about a play set in a place that promises warmth. The Boline Inn — that curious refuge from the world of cassette tapes, perms, and shoulder pads — invites you to sit by the fire and listen closely, because the walls have a few things to say.
Written by Eilis Mulholland and assisted by Ophélia Gourbault, The Boline Inn opens its doors at The Hope Theatre, Islington on Friday 5th December. It’s being billed as a drama, but don’t expect your average pint-sized pub story. This one brews slow, simmers deep, and might just scald you when you least expect it.
We follow Jane (played by Cara Dougherty), a woman on the hunt for her missing uncle — a search that leads her to the Boline Inn, where the women behind the bar are as intriguing as the spirits they serve. There’s Betty (Marley Craze), Val (Grace Mia Harvey), Caro (Natasha Jobst), and Althea (Chloe Stokes), each with their own brand of charm and quiet knowing. And then there’s Old Woman Meg (played by Mulholland herself), who seems to hold the key to the Inn’s whispered past.
The Boline is no ordinary inn. It’s a place steeped in something older, thicker — the kind of female folklore that’s passed down in glances, half-truths, and knowing smiles. “We have a way of telling each other things. Us women,” the play reminds us. And you can almost feel it — that undercurrent of shared history, of unspoken strength, of stories that bubble beneath the surface.
Meadow Report, the all-female company behind this piece, hails from Liverpool and makes its London debut with this production. There’s a sense of quiet confidence in their arrival — a feeling that something new and compelling is about to bloom in the capital’s fringe scene.
Costumes come courtesy of Hannah Wickham, who’ll no doubt add to the Inn’s nostalgic allure — all wool, woodsmoke and whispered secrets.
So pull up a chair, order something warm, and step inside The Boline Inn. Just don’t expect to leave the same way you came in.
The Boline Inn
By Eilis Mulholland, assisted by Ophélia Gourbault
Press Night: Friday 5th December, 7PM
The Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street, Islington, N1 1RL
https://www.thehopetheatre.com/the-venue
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