Bubbling resentments, submerged back-stories, and a mysterious and violent figure returning from a character’s past to disturb his peaceful present- very much a student play. This is a new (and somewhat infuriatingly titled) piece of writing from the award- winning poet and playwright Caroline Bird, and it positively simmers with energy and wry anger.
Thomas, about to take his finals, is rudely interrupted by a verbose, aggressive figure from his past. His well-heeled friend Oscar has recently been waxing lyrical about whether or not he should drop out of uni and finally take the plunge, finally immerse himself in the real world. It is not long however before the focus of the play falls firmly on Thomas and his guest, an old, pre-Oxford friend. An old, pre-Oxford friend, moreover, who remembers Thomas in his hedonistic druggy life before Polo shirts and Latin grammars.
There is a wealth of moral dilemma, a lot of juicy material to cover. But Oscar soon drops out, and we are left without ignorant about his potentially life changing decision. What matter, the play seems to be saying, if some Classicist toff drops out or not? How could his life be anywhere nearly as valid or interesting as the sordid and druggy world introduced by the hulking and dangerous figure of Ed, Thomas’ link to his former life?
Ed, after all, fondles rent boys, does cocaine, and slits his wrists. On stage. His self- destruction is graphically demonstrated, but I was left unsure whether the playwright was really interested in Ed’s character, or whether she was half- fascinated and half- disgusted by his trauma, reveling in the spectacle, creating a sort of suffering- porn.
The play offers no answers, and it careers along with real energy, but the questions it asks seem unfocused; it takes delight it what it deems to be the gritty reality of Ed’s world, in all its pain and danger, but in its fascination it cannot hold itself back, to question, and examine.
All the characters are excellently and vividly portrayed, and the acting is wonderful, with Charlie Thomson’s Ed especially strong. But the bad guys stay bad, uncomplicated in their desire to destroy Thomas and the well- heeled world he has created for himself. His motives for escaping his past remain unexplored, and it appears that his new life, his Oxford life, is a sham.
But in becoming obsessed with the darker recesses of the human soul, the play fails to recognize the one defining connection between its characters- that the very process of living and suffering, regardless of rich and poor, smart or stupid, can bridge divides and make you a human- being.
Three stars.
