A PLAY which blurs the boundaries between theatre and stand-up, Is Everyone OK? will strike a chord with anyone who has ever turned 30 and asked themselves what they are doing with their life.

The 60-minute drama was penned by award-winning playwright Joel Horwood, himself a youngster of 29, to voice the angst of a generation, through three characters who pour their hearts out to the microphone.

Daisy's job is on the line – while she can't remember why she has it, she's sure she can't afford to lose it.

Meanwhile Em's about to become a self-elected single mother, and Cameron doesn't know what do with the strange, warm feelings that are suddenly being stirred up by the office temp.

Is Everyone OK?, commissioned by new theatre writing company nabokov, taps into the fears of a generation adrift and bewildered in a world very different to the one of certainties their parents inhabited.

There's shifting gender roles, an ever-shrinking job market and the illusion of choice all contributing to a postponement of the things of adulthood.

"I think that is the main source of panic, our parents would have been married by the time the thought has just entered our head," says Joel.

"We are shifting quicker than our moral compass will allow, and we are a little bit worried about it."

Joel, who won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival for Food, his play about the cult of the celebrity chef, originally wrote Is Everyone OK? for the young crowd at the Latitude Festival in Suffolk, close to where he grew up.

"For that format of a festival tent, you are writing for a bunch of people who are just passing through and I tried to write something that was quite punchy to draw them in," he says.

"Is Everyone OK? is about a lot of people who are a little bit worried that they might have got it wrong.

"It is essentially three 20-minute stories, and all three take a step in a different direction.

"They are all stories about whether you can accept yourself as you are, and I think some of them can't and some of them can."

SARAH PITT

Is Everyone OK? is at The Drum, Plymouth (01752 267222) from November 17-21. It has strong language and is recommended for 16+.