 |
|
Northern Firebrand present . . .
Scarborough
'Poignant and intimate... An epic drama in miniature'
Erica Whyman, Northern Stage
|
|
3-27 August 2007
16:00 / 17:00 / 18:00
Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh
Box Office 0131 623 3030
Pick a review: |
The Guardian : : The Scotsman : : Onstage Scotland
The Sunday Times : : The British Theatre Guide : : The Stage
The Observer : : The Daily Telegraph : : The Evening Standard
|
The Scotsman
10 August 2007
Kelly Apter
* * * *
|
ENTER the Assembly Rooms, turn sharp left at the front door, and suddenly find yourself in the seediest of British seaside hotel-rooms.
There's the double bed, the greyish net curtains, the teasmade, the slightly peeling wallpaper - and Lauren and Daz, a couple whose relationship is so illicit that although it's Daz's birthday, Lauren is afraid even to go out for dinner.
Daz is a 15-year-old, Lauren is the gym teacher at his school and 14 years his senior. If they are seen together, her life and career are effectively over; yet something - not just sex, a kind of love or recognition - drives the pair into each other's arms.
Fiona Evans' brief (40-minute), bitter and poignant drama shows us the end of the affair, the moment when Lauren knows she must let it go and return to her grown-up life. It does not shy away from the tough questions about the depth of her weakness and betrayal, both of her boyfriend back home and of the child in Daz. But what makes the play linger in the mind is its underlying sense of tragedy, of a chance of happiness and true connection crushed by circumstance, and made not only impossible, but corrupt and wrong.
Every detail of Jo Newberry's seedy setting echoes that sense of sadness and corruption in perfect detail. And Deborah Bruce's immaculate production for Newcastle-based Northern Firebrand - backed by a hard-hitting musical score - features two magnificent performances, from James Baxter as the beautiful, funny, fragile boy on the brink of serious emotional damage, and Holly Atkins as a woman whose failure to heal the wounds of her own inner child has led her into a place where she should never have gone, and to the passing on of her confusion and unhappiness, generation to generation.
|
|
|
PRESS ENQUIRIES
Please click here to download the latest press release and photos for SCARBOROUGH. Alternatively email Justine Watson for more details.
|
| |
|
|
| |
MAILING LIST
Please click here if you would like us to keep you informed about up and coming productions.
|
|