The title of a play is often pithy, sometimes witty, and almost always contains a hook of some kind. I had no idea what this play would be about, because the title here conveys so little. A play like that has to explain itself. Unfortunately this play never does.
We see in the programme, “please read these notes in preparation for the class”. This is all part of the IFU (the Institute for Upbringing) we are told. Ok, well let it teach something then, about upbringing or otherwise. Unfortunately, like the title, the play fails to demonstrate its central satire, and this is debilitating for a dystopian subject. The plot is one thing that is clear. It is sketched out to us that in a futuristic society a young man working in a shoe shop, is one day accosted by his mother. In the society depicted, mothers no longer have a role and this son starts to harbour his mother from the authorities. The bulk of the plot involves the mother and her son shifting from location to location in search of the true father: All sounds very cinematic. Along the way we meet admittedly interesting characters such as a cab driver, a paedophile (worryingly well played by Jamie Macfarlane), several members of a squad rounding up children. In short, it’s all a fairly broad cross-section of the dystopian society.
The direction is impressive. Everything is performed at great speed on a bare set. All seven actors are permanently on stage, and everyone except the son plays several roles and alternately narrates the events. The performance is effervescent thanks to the energy injected by the cast, with no weak member, and with Richard Trainor and Isabella Marshall standing out for good stage presence. The cast have it hard as well, since there are no props, and they themselves play the parts of alarm clocks, doors, and furniture. In short, on the direction side of things, it’s a well organised whirlwind tour through the script, and it’s performed with zest and slickness. This guarantees that it’s never boring.
The trouble is the depth of the script. The writing isn’t bad, but there is no focus on any particular ideas because too much emphasis is placed on maintaining an engaging plot. Thus it feels sometimes like you’re watching an action movie with poor special effects, whilst such themes as paedophilia and parentless children (a nod to Huxley and Orwell), are shown only peripherally.
We were told at the beginning that the play would be “a class”. In this class however, it felt the teacher really had too little to teach us. Cutting down the number of events and characters, as well as giving each character more time to develop would have helped in this production. And I wouldn’t have left feeling like the theatrical experience had been as unmemorable and imprecise as the title.
We see in the programme, “please read these notes in preparation for the class”. This is all part of the IFU (the Institute for Upbringing) we are told. Ok, well let it teach something then, about upbringing or otherwise. Unfortunately, like the title, the play fails to demonstrate its central satire, and this is debilitating for a dystopian subject. The plot is one thing that is clear. It is sketched out to us that in a futuristic society a young man working in a shoe shop, is one day accosted by his mother. In the society depicted, mothers no longer have a role and this son starts to harbour his mother from the authorities. The bulk of the plot involves the mother and her son shifting from location to location in search of the true father: All sounds very cinematic. Along the way we meet admittedly interesting characters such as a cab driver, a paedophile (worryingly well played by Jamie Macfarlane), several members of a squad rounding up children. In short, it’s all a fairly broad cross-section of the dystopian society.
The direction is impressive. Everything is performed at great speed on a bare set. All seven actors are permanently on stage, and everyone except the son plays several roles and alternately narrates the events. The performance is effervescent thanks to the energy injected by the cast, with no weak member, and with Richard Trainor and Isabella Marshall standing out for good stage presence. The cast have it hard as well, since there are no props, and they themselves play the parts of alarm clocks, doors, and furniture. In short, on the direction side of things, it’s a well organised whirlwind tour through the script, and it’s performed with zest and slickness. This guarantees that it’s never boring.
The trouble is the depth of the script. The writing isn’t bad, but there is no focus on any particular ideas because too much emphasis is placed on maintaining an engaging plot. Thus it feels sometimes like you’re watching an action movie with poor special effects, whilst such themes as paedophilia and parentless children (a nod to Huxley and Orwell), are shown only peripherally.
We were told at the beginning that the play would be “a class”. In this class however, it felt the teacher really had too little to teach us. Cutting down the number of events and characters, as well as giving each character more time to develop would have helped in this production. And I wouldn’t have left feeling like the theatrical experience had been as unmemorable and imprecise as the title.