Traverse Theatre,
Edinburgh
Four stars
When the teenage
schoolgirl in star-shaped shades that is Anais Hendricks steps out onto the
stage as played by Anna Russell-Martin at the start of Jenni Fagan’s adaptation
of her searing 2012 novel, Anais’ defiant swagger is a statement of intent that
sets her up as rebel, vagabond, outlaw and anti-establishment heroine for our
times. Her arrival at the care home that gives the play its title marks the
beginning of the end of a journey she survives with a street-smart strength that
others in the centre’s mini community don’t have.
Framed by Anais’ potential
guilt for putting a policewoman in a coma, the play is actually more about a far
more existential search for a sense of self as Anais attempts to shake off the
demons that haunt her, with copious amounts of sex, drugs and after-dark
nightmares en route. The latter are brought to life in Debbie Hannan’s no-holds-barred
National Theatre of Scotland production through a fusion of Cat Bruce’s nightmarish
animations, Lewis den Hertog’s shadowy video work and Mark Melville’s rumbling electronic
score.
Played out by an
exceptional cast of nine on Max Johns’ ingenious semi-circular set, the result
is a fearless condemnation, not just of the broken system it lays bare, but as
a far bigger metaphor for a society where everyone is under surveillance. With Fagan’s
script updated to include the all seeing eye of the social media age, as
Russell-Martin addresses much of Anais’ story out front, even the audience
watching her become complicit in the conspiracy.
As Anais, Russell-Martin
is a revelation. Onstage throughout the play’s two-and-a half-hour duration,
she presents a young woman who is by turns angry, funny, vulnerable, desperate
and, by the end, flying blissfully high on her own sense of reinvention.
Amongst the pain, there is a sense too of the camaraderie, support, and, yes, love,
she finds among her fellow residents of the Panopticon. As Anais takes on the
world beyond it, she looks set to keep on burning no matter what.
The Herald, October 14th 2019
ends
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