| Young Peoples Theatre Takes On the Parental World |
NT Connections |
| Narberth Youth Theatre- What Are They Like? , Aberystwyth Arts Centre , May 10, 2016 |
Aberystwyth is host for the first time as a venue for the twenty-five year old National Theatre (UK) Festival. A celebration of theatre from young people the second evening has productions from three companies. The last is Narberth Youth Theatre with Lucinda Coxon’s highly original “What Are They Like?” The concept is simple, a splintered collection of utterances from parents to their children in teenagehood. The irony of the production is that these words of admonition, concern and surprise are spoken by young voices. The age range of the dozen-strong cast of twelve runs from twelve to seventeen. Coxon’s design starts and ends with the emphatic sound of the ticking clock. It is true that childhood in the living-through of it hangs eternally. But it proceeds too with an ever-changing rapidity. The latest studies have revealed that the inner body-clock of teenagers is not that of the adult. Schooling would be greatly more productive if it commenced at ten. There are repeated refrains of “Come on! Get up!” and many a line with an echo from outside the darkened theatre space. “You’ve got to work harder!” is a universal. Small vignettes have a lancing accuracy to them. For the child from an ethnic community the family is just so big and so smothering. One of the true small parental cruelties is described. The moment the teenager is on the first uncertain step in the outer world her bedroom is repossessed and redecorated. A mother in search of reassurance as to the whereabouts of a nighthawk child leaves message after message on an unanswering phone. Sex and drugs hover on the edges. A father dare not confide just what substances he himself was indulging in twenty years previously. A mother wonders if a few condoms should be left in the bathroom just in case of need. A factor against is that father has a difficulty in coming to terms with a daughter as a fully sexual not-quite-adult. Appearances alter. A son rockets to a height greater than his parents. “What your body is is a very small part of what you are” says a mother attempting reassurance. “I can tell she doesn’t believe me” she adds with realism. Company founder and director Meredydd Barker had his own unexpected first experience of a director in Terry Hands. The company has twelve white cubes to vary the visual view. The small figures get their lines out with punch and a correctness of emphasis. The first mention of a now regular film lead was on this site in 2007. For the record Narberth’s actors of 2016 are Carys Underwood, Molly Thomas, Lilianne Snedden, Seren Petersen, Tyler Rawlings, Florence Newell, Owain Morgan, Deryn May, Owen Griffiths, Holly Gillard, Albee Edwards and Rowan Chitania. |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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