5 stars
Written and directed by Scott McArdle, Playthings captures the isolation and inherent confusion of early adolescence.
Through four characters—each, in their own way, deeply complex—the audience sees the struggle to cope with trauma and how relationships can variably destroy and repair.
Playthings is an incredibly tightly written piece of performance art, with no wasted stage time. Every scene, very nearly every word, serves to enrich and carry the story.
Truly hilarious in parts, and devastatingly bleak in others, this is a balanced production that never wallows in the emotional weight of the individual stories. It’s not simply a dark, traumatic story peppered with jokes. Instead, it is reflective of the depth and range of life experience. Even against a backdrop of trauma there is levity, even as there is suffering there is inherent joy and connection.
Image courtesy of Second Chance Theatre
The blustering bravado of Lucy (Courtney Henri) masks her own trauma. Henri presents a cold, almost emotionless persona that, if not for the moments where Lucy exposes the extremes of her emotional state, could be misinterpreted for a flat acting performance. It clearly isn’t—Lucy instead actively avoids displaying emotions other than truculence except when pushed—and this is testimony to Henri’s prowess as an actor.
Lucy forms a strong counterpoint to Arnold (Daniel Buckle), adorable dork that he is, veiled with sadness, loneliness and self loathing. Instead of lashing out, Arnold projects his negativity onto others, finding hatred or derision where there is none. His is an isolation partly forced upon him and partly of his own choice. Buckle embodies the archetype of the harmless teenage outsider while adding richness and nuance through both his vocal and physical technique.
Supporting these two characters are Lucy’s stepdad Rhys (St John Cowcher) and english teacher Miss Richards (Siobhan Dow-Hall). It’s a masterstroke to have both adult characters being proxies for biological parents.
The absence of the biological parents, with other authority figures as opposite representations of what could—or should—have been serves to further push the self-imposed isolation of Lucy and Arnold’s characters.
Image courtesy of Second Chance Theatre
The set design (that it exists at all is a surprise in a black box performance space of The Blue Room) of a suburban living room could be placed any time in the last half century. Whilst the story is clearly set in the present day, the pervasion of mobile phones in the schoolyard being one such tell, there is also a significant feeling of nostalgia. Evoking a palpable sense of place, even when the story moves to the schoolyard, or the bush, the home looms in the background to great effect.
Playthings’ sound design is economic. Whilst sparing other than a repeated musical motif, subtle sound effects and queues build to a point where they coalesce into an inherent element of the production.
This is a show that will leave the audience stunned, feeling perhaps as unsettled as they are uplifted. What could have been a depressing exploration of childhood trauma is instead a powerful work that demonstrates the multi-faceted aspects of damage, despair and, inevitably, healing.
Tickets available from The Blue Room Theatre. Playthings runs until 23 November.
GLEN SEABROOK-BENSON