It’s always encouraging when a small startup theatre company in one of our main regional centres, hits the ground performing to the highest standard. In Greg Shewring’s one act play (in which he also acts) a couple of sullen looking lads in Batman and Robin masks set off to cruise around their old haunts with nothing but a couple of chairs as set and props.
Shewring shows us two young men, apparently barely socialized and with little concern for road users and pedestrians alike, who yet have rich inner lives. Young enough to have their whole lives in front of them, they are nonetheless old enough to have regrets for opportunities missed. It is a journey through a short past, unconsciously looking for values and some kind of grounding as the early phase of life recedes in the rear-view mirror. The usual concerns crop up: as Shewring’s (virgin) character glumly observes, ‘Everything’s OK when you’ve had sex.’ And there’s the common youthful fantasy about being a rock star, backed up by nothing in the way of musical talent. But hey, at that age anything and everything is possible, though not, one imagines, for someone who still maintains that, ‘Education is for pussies’. Yet that is just the kind of attitude, which in the first blush of maturity leads to the kind of gnawing regret that Jon Pascoe’s (unnamed) character is struggling to escape.
Director Theo St Claire has deftly managed the cleverly written mood changes which keep the play moving along despite the otherwise stationary nature of the piece. And the bumpy ride is nicely choreographed, giving an authentic feel of the kind of joy ride that is the stuff of parents’ nightmares. Layla Lagab’s lighting makes the most of the subtle and sometimes sudden changes.
Mr Pascoe’s acting gives a gloss to this neat little production. He provides a detailed emotional journey for a character that is as engaging as it is frustrating. He manages to encompass immaturity and excoriating emotional passion – as in his slightly surreal lament for a piece of road kill in which the dead badger apparently takes on, for him (and us) a wider significance.
Both actors do justice to a detailed, well-observed piece of writing, which whilst occasionally self-conscious is nevertheless flexible prose writing of a high standard which does most of what you hope from dialogue – developing character and theme, moving plot and giving the actors tools with which to mine their emotions. ★★★☆☆ Graham Wyles 20th January 2016
Photo by © Jack Offord
