A new drama about dysfunctional hard-drinking friends which opens in Battersea at the end of the month started life in a completely different form.

“It actually came from a poem, funnily enough,” playwright Kathryn O’Reilly told us of her debut production, Screwed, which opens at Theatre503 on June 28.

“The poem itself was a comedy and it was quite crude and it was about these girls that fantasised over these guys and how the guys looked and what they would do with them in bed and stuff like that.

“As I started to write into a play, the characters got darker and darker.

Screwed follows factory workers Luce and Charlene.

O’Reilly said: “You have got these 30-something women who are carrying on in a way they did when they were 19, 20, 21, 25. They are still in that lifestyle.

“They are binge-drinking alcoholics, they are thrillseekers and they are looking for immediate gratification. They are co-dependant on each other and they are a bit of a double act.

“They work and work is a big part of someone’s self. They go out, they get smashed, and they turn up at work and think they are doing a great job.”

While the audience will feed off of the pair’s fun-loving search of a good time, O’Reilly said there is something much less carefree and comedic underlying their behaviour.

She said: “Essentially they are a double act and they go out and have a great time and hopefully the audience go on that journey with them and see the great time that they have.

“They talk about all their sexual conquests and they are constantly vibing off each other.

“I think beneath all that confidence and bravado there is a sense of self hatred. There are other things they are covering up.

“There are a lot of underlying issues they haven’t deal with. Part of the reason is that because they are binge-drinking alcoholics, they haven’t really grown up. They haven’t grown up mentally and they haven’t grown up emotionally.

“It is not just a comedy, there are some quite hard-hitting issues in the play.”

Screwed is Surrey actress and Brit School graduate O’Reilly’s first drama to come to the stage. She is co-producing and was initially set to star as well before stepping back and helping to cast the central duo of Eloise Joseph (The Inbetweeners Movie) and Samantha Robinson.

And while she will attend some of the rehearsals, O’Reilly admitted she won’t even get to see her own play launch as she’s currently starring in the West End smash political satire A View from Islington North.

She said: “It is funny, isn’t it, it feels like everything comes at once.

“You have moments of nothing and then all of a sudden everything comes in. It is a balancing act but I quite like that.

“I like having lots of different things to focus on because in a funny way it keeps you grounded as well. You have be far more practical when you have lots happening.

“And you know that when it’s over, it’s over. That’s the thing about theatre, it’s always fleeting.

She added: “Someone said to me ‘it is going to be the highlight of your life sitting in the auditorium and seeing your play for the first time’. That I’m really thrilled about and really looking forward to.

“I’m very, very excited to see it because I’ve been working on it for a long time and so many people have been involved in helping it come to fruition that I think when I’m there and I can actually see it I think it will hit me more.”

Screwed is at Theatre503 in Battersea from June 28 to July 23. Tickets cost £15 or £12 or pay what you can on Sundays. Go to theatre503.com

Like our What's On page on Facebook for entertainment news, interviews, reviews and features from across south London.