365 from the National Theatre of Scotland follows a series of teenagers emerging from care, and taking their first steps towards independence in ‘practice flats’. David Harrower’s drama explores the instabilities of identity that assail these young people, abruptly required to cope alone in the real world, attempting to transform themselves into functioning adults on the basis of some painfully dysfunctional childhoods.
Georgia McGuinness‘ ingenious exploded flat-pack of a set creates wonderfully unpredictable landscapes of domestic discovery. A row of white doors is rife with terrifying possibilities, with insistent buzzers and threatening voices on the other side. However, while a coolly ambient soundtrack and some slickly abstracted choreography are admittedly stylish, they also tend to cocoon the young cast from the challenge of establishing empathetic links beyond the fourth wall.
Some of the actors do manage slip past the show’s stylistic barriers and make a real emotional connection with the audience. Ben Presley and Rebecca Smith make a touchingly unlikely pair, painstakingly negotiating friendship amid the debris of a catastrophic party. And Ryan and Scott Fletcher are achingly plausible as estranged brothers, trading hyperbolic slanders with hesitant, hopeful longing.
It’s evident that Vicky Featherstone’s company have absorbed some unsettling statistics about the likely futures of ‘looked after’ children. But 365 sometimes seems more like an assemblage of data than a revealing dramatic exploration of young people’s lives and struggles. The framing device of an adult voice-over places the audience in uncomfortable complicity with grown-up authority, and the show’s obvious social concern eventually provokes little more than a state of chilly, depressed voyeurism. All too often it feels like we’re spying on these kids’ struggles through a two-way mirror as we observe, without entering or sharing, their remarkable and troubled private worlds.
365 at the Lyric Hammersmith from the 8th to the 27th of September.
Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Written by David HarrowerPhoto Top: Simone James. Photo by Pete Dibdin.
Photo Bottom: Ryan Fletcher, Rebecca Smith and Helen Mallon. Photo by Pete Dibdin.
