Pass @ 24:7 Festival, 22.07.14

“Everything could change or nothing could change,” says Jake (Ethan Rodgers) in Pass, the new play from writer Naomi Sumner that is debuting at this year’s 24:7. That single sentence is a great summation of the teenage experience: life is exciting, fresh and fun while, at the same time, it all seems so hard to grasp, slow to move and no one thinks you’re ready for it. It is this universal story of juvenile yearning that Pass follows, told through the tale of two school kids in love.

The premise is pretty simple: Jake wants to go to university and get out of Manchester while his girlfriend Maddie (Natasha Davidson) is quite happy where she is, glad to be young and in love. Caught in this clash is newly qualified teacher Louise (Joanna Hinton), a tutor to Jake and a potential rival for his affections as far as Maddie is concerned. The three strong wills go to war, with inevitable break-ups, make-ups, and break downs as Jake takes his final exams. The question is, will he pass?

Pass’ storyline works well and the dialogue has strong moments, as with the quoted line at the start of this review. However, the quality is not consistent throughout and is occasionally clunky rather than quick and charismatic; a drama like this needs a real feel for how young people speak and a sense of their energy. That said, both Rodgers and Davidson did well with the material and made believable teens, which is not an easy assignment for an actor.

As to the direction, the pacey scene changes gave a feeling of life flashing by, but the sudden snaps of sound used to punctuate these didn’t quite work, preventing a mood from developing; it was hard to get lost in the play. It was also a tricky piece to see in thrust staging, as several key moments happened at the far reaches of the stage where they could not be seen so well from the other side.

Pass succeeds in capturing that feeling that fifteen is everything, that there is no time to lose and you’ve got to have it all right now – an impatience for life to begin. While it has some weaknesses there is also enough to suggest that this play can be improved, and that those involved have potential.

Words: Andrew Anderson
Image: Courtesy of 24:7

Removed and Destroyed @ King's Arms, Salford, 22.05.14

Removed and Destroyed by writer Matthew Gabrielli follows the troubles of a young and successful man Ted (played by Kevin Dewsbury) whose briefcase goes missing. When he seeks the assistance of the authorities to recover it he becomes tethered in a dystopian dilemma, a world where you’re guilty because you’ve been arrested and you’ve been arrested because you’re guilty. This authoritarian theme puts it in sync with a lot of other future worlds that we are all familiar with through books, television and film, and so the question here is this: what does Removed and Destroyed add to the picture?

The premise in this case is that the reduction in freedoms following the terrorism scares of the early 2000s are taken to an extreme. The police, played here by David Garrett and Ethan Holmes, will use any form of abuse to get what they want, while minor discretions from the young man’s past are spat back at him with a tainted twist. The problem is that I found the story too unbelievable to engage with. There were subplots that felt tacked on, like one of the policemen turning out to have a hidden heart of gold, and a swear jar that was too gimmicky to make any political point. Further, it is very difficult to act out violence in such a small space like the King’s Arms, as pretend violence often looks playground-esque when it is only a few feet away. While I agreed with much of the political proselytising, which was well-worded, it felt just like that – preaching, rather than actual dialogue. In terms of direction I found some of the choices, like the swear jar and the violence, complicated rather than corralled the play’s elements. The acting itself was fine, especially given the difficult job of portraying the physical elements in an intimate venue.

To answer my original question, while Removed and Destroyed makes some valid points, and was entertaining enough, it does not offer enough fresh insight to justify going over these subjects again.

Words: Andrew Anderson

Blindsided @ The Royal Exchange, 28.01.14

The Coronation Street stars – current and previous – were out in full flow at The Royal Exchange supporting Julie Hesmondhalgh (Hayley Cropper in Corrie) in Blindsided, the fourth play written by Stockport born writer Simon Stephens, who recently adapted The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time.

The star of the show is Katie West who plays the lively, energetic and passionate Cathy Heyer. We warm to her entertaining exuberance and want her to succeed as she studies for an A level in History at Stockport College, something she is very excited about. There are tiny hopes of ambition in her that we want her to pursue so she can get away from domestic drudgery and the smell of the butchers. We are drawn to her raw passion and energy…but we are not the only ones, as a new arrival in town is soon enticed by the depth of her vitality.

Cathy is yearning to feel deeply, “I feel like every bit of me is awake and asleep at the same time,” and her wildest dream is to turn into somebody, but she declares, “No matter what happens, I’ll always be who I am.” However, when John Connolly (played by Andrew Sheridan) arrives on the scene, she starts to see things differently, “Round here you need people to shake things up a bit!”

Cathy falls blindly, desperately and quickly in love with Conolly, telling him, “I can get rather attracted to somebody suddenly.” But not to him, please Cathy! Sheridan plays a smug malevolent character so brilliantly that my skin crawls each time I see him on stage.

The director Sarah Frankcom successfully portrays a play of shattered dreams and shattered lives, where the characters seek to be free of the shackles in their minds. Stockport is brilliantly presented by the concrete slabs on the stage and the rain that comes and goes during the grim days.

Blindsided is the perfect title for this new play, for we are blindsided as we watch the characters’ raw emotions and devastating pain.

Words: Sadia Habib

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