Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
3 stars
Oh, to be down with the kids again. Because there really is something of a generational thing going on in David Watson’s new play for Out Of Joint which, given Watson’s own tender age, does yoof from the inside. It’s significant too that this tale of how Jonathan, a kid from the right-on side of the tracks, reacts to having to play pig in the middle after his parents split up, is dedicated to Watson’s own Mum and Dad. Because, with Jonathan’s Harry Potter worshipping Down’s syndrome big brother Danny in tow, one can’t help but suspect the play is pretty close to home.
18 year old Jonathan is the son of a university professor and a social worker and has the brightest of futures ahead of him. Like most well-bred boys of his age, though, he’s desperate to be common, so drops his ‘h’s and talks like he’s hangin’ in some imaginary estuary ‘hood where the streets he gets wise to aren’t quite so semi-detached.
Working as an airport baggage collector, he meets Joe, with whom he robs from the rich to the extent he even whisks Joe’s would-be singer girlfriend Lauren from under his nose. If some of what follows in Naomi Jones’ production hints at soap opera bombast that never quite adds up, there are some wonderful moments. Jonathan’s getting of wisdom is pure Prince Hal, and his coked up courtship of Lauren total slapstick in the hands of Cary Crankston and Ashley Madekwe. For all its parent-hating cussing, then, this is a fresh, touchingly sentimental and utterly old-fashioned rites of passage that had every grown-up adolescent in the audience rooting for a happy ending.
The Herald, November 8th 2007
ends
3 stars
Oh, to be down with the kids again. Because there really is something of a generational thing going on in David Watson’s new play for Out Of Joint which, given Watson’s own tender age, does yoof from the inside. It’s significant too that this tale of how Jonathan, a kid from the right-on side of the tracks, reacts to having to play pig in the middle after his parents split up, is dedicated to Watson’s own Mum and Dad. Because, with Jonathan’s Harry Potter worshipping Down’s syndrome big brother Danny in tow, one can’t help but suspect the play is pretty close to home.
18 year old Jonathan is the son of a university professor and a social worker and has the brightest of futures ahead of him. Like most well-bred boys of his age, though, he’s desperate to be common, so drops his ‘h’s and talks like he’s hangin’ in some imaginary estuary ‘hood where the streets he gets wise to aren’t quite so semi-detached.
Working as an airport baggage collector, he meets Joe, with whom he robs from the rich to the extent he even whisks Joe’s would-be singer girlfriend Lauren from under his nose. If some of what follows in Naomi Jones’ production hints at soap opera bombast that never quite adds up, there are some wonderful moments. Jonathan’s getting of wisdom is pure Prince Hal, and his coked up courtship of Lauren total slapstick in the hands of Cary Crankston and Ashley Madekwe. For all its parent-hating cussing, then, this is a fresh, touchingly sentimental and utterly old-fashioned rites of passage that had every grown-up adolescent in the audience rooting for a happy ending.
The Herald, November 8th 2007
ends
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