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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London Review365
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What if all the abused and neglected and fucked over kids just got better and never needed you anymore?— Boy R
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Siu Hun Li as T and Laura McMonagle as K
(Photo: Pete Dibdin) |
We are told that there are currently over 70,000 children in care in the UK. So many of these teenagers bring with them terrible accounts of their life before the decision was taken that they should no longer live with their families and the damage to young psyches is indescribable. David Harrower has taken their stories and woven them into a play based in the transitional accommodation or "practise flats" they go into at 16 to prepare them for life outside the institutional children's home. The teenagers are referred to by a letter only, an allusion to their anonymity and lack of belonging.
We see W (Gayle Tefler Stevens) the social worker trying to facilitate adulthood but all too often the young people seem to be cast adrift. J's (Ashley Smith) first instinct is to meet with her mother and find out why she was put into care. The mother eventually admits that she went off with a man and left the four year old in a flat with a box of cereal for five days because the little girl was a "needy" child. This information only serves to distress J all the more.
A girl V (Simone James) who gave birth at 13 is increasingly disturbed and sets fire to bedding in the flat after her baby was taken away from her because they found a burn on the baby's arm. This story shows the uncomfortable choices that have to be made when children become parents and there are no grandparents to prop them up.
There are two brothers in conflict played by real brothers Ryan and Scott Fletcher, who have become separated after one falls out with his step father. Another boy R (John Paul McCue) gets to read his bulging file held by Social Services recording events he cannot remember. A girl L (Rebecca Smith) talks about her experiences in a middle class foster family and what it is like to be abandoned again. Ben Presley as C wants to be a chef, he cradles one of his few possessions, an old toaster and makes a cup of tea not knowing that the water needs to be boiled.
Some of the young people's first reaction to being given their own place is to have a blast of a party but of course when things get out of hand, they cannot cope with situations which involve drunkenness, drugs and sex. Some within the group are sexually abused by other teenagers as those previously abused become abusers themselves. One scene powerfully choreographed by Steven Hoggett has the whole cast buffeted and thrown around accompanied by a song, "I Can't Give Up On you" written especially for the show by Paul Buchanan from the band Blue Nile. Later a girl soars above the stage on a balloon, the one who rises above the emotional poverty trap.
For those of us who were hoping for another Black Watch, it is not here yet, although this is an important subject to write about, it still feels more like a lesson in social injustice that a cohesive dramatic whole.
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365
Written by David Harrower Directed by Vicky Featherstone With: Ryan Fletcher, Scott Fletcher, Siu Hun Li, Simone James, Marlene Madenge, Helen Mallon, John Paul McCue, Laura McMonagle, Juluie Wilson Nimmo, Ben Presley, Ashlet Smith, Rebecca Smith, Gayle Tefler Stevens, Owen Whitelaw Song written by Paul Buchanan Design: Georgia McGuinness Lighting: Colin Grenfell Sound: Adrienne Quartly Movement: Steven Hoggett Running time: One hour 55 minutes without an interval Box Office: 0871 2211729 Booking at Lyric Theatre Hammersmith until 27th September 2008 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 11th September 2008 performance at the Lyric Hammersmith, London W6 (Tube: Hammersmith) |
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