Tron Theatre, Glasgow
3 stars
Bloody kids are all over the show in Company Of Angels’ latest gymnastically inclined attempt to give voice to da yoof of today. To do this, writer/director John Rettalack and co-director/choreographer Andy Howitt throw into the mix a quintet of highly-strung teens, defined more by the corners they’re backed into than who they actually are.
So, just as one wise guy moves up a notch from petty thieving to biting the hand that feeds him, another sees the world solely through the internet, but is unable to connect. A once model student falls in with a bad crowd, a girl swaps natural highs for bottled bliss, and a boy too sensitive for fisticuffs fights back another way. In their quest to get out of it by any means necessary, all crash, and to some extent get burnt. Eventually, though, they learn the error of their ways, however tough the lesson.
Told through a series of dove-tailing monologues, each punctuated by some highly-charged chorus work and trademark Howitt dance moves, Risk is a well-fashioned piece of street-smart theatre in education. A co-production between Company Of Angels, Howitt’s Y Dance company, The Tron and Stirling’s MacRobert Arts Centre, some archetypes are better drawn than others in what is essentially a morality play for hormone-popping adolescents.
While at times you suspect their constituent teenage audience are already way ahead of them in what at times tries too hard to be hip, actors Paul J Corrigan, Martin Docherty, Michelle Edwards, Annmarie Fulton and Edward McGurn power through their paces with a relentless ferocity that suggests it’s more than just a phase they’re going through.
The Herald, February 12th 2007
ends
3 stars
Bloody kids are all over the show in Company Of Angels’ latest gymnastically inclined attempt to give voice to da yoof of today. To do this, writer/director John Rettalack and co-director/choreographer Andy Howitt throw into the mix a quintet of highly-strung teens, defined more by the corners they’re backed into than who they actually are.
So, just as one wise guy moves up a notch from petty thieving to biting the hand that feeds him, another sees the world solely through the internet, but is unable to connect. A once model student falls in with a bad crowd, a girl swaps natural highs for bottled bliss, and a boy too sensitive for fisticuffs fights back another way. In their quest to get out of it by any means necessary, all crash, and to some extent get burnt. Eventually, though, they learn the error of their ways, however tough the lesson.
Told through a series of dove-tailing monologues, each punctuated by some highly-charged chorus work and trademark Howitt dance moves, Risk is a well-fashioned piece of street-smart theatre in education. A co-production between Company Of Angels, Howitt’s Y Dance company, The Tron and Stirling’s MacRobert Arts Centre, some archetypes are better drawn than others in what is essentially a morality play for hormone-popping adolescents.
While at times you suspect their constituent teenage audience are already way ahead of them in what at times tries too hard to be hip, actors Paul J Corrigan, Martin Docherty, Michelle Edwards, Annmarie Fulton and Edward McGurn power through their paces with a relentless ferocity that suggests it’s more than just a phase they’re going through.
The Herald, February 12th 2007
ends
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