Writer: Emma Pallett
Director: Everleigh Brenner
Darkness really only becomes interesting when there’s some light and shade to set it off. Without those differences, you’re left with a flat, texture-free experience that does nothing for nobody. It’s good to see this in action, then, in Emma Pallett’s very dark play that nonetheless contains bursts of joy, colour and life.
It is, though, highly bleak stuff. No mistaking that.
8-year-old Felicity is an intense, imaginative, gloriously odd little girl. Her 13-year-old brother Harvey is a lot more serious and on-edge. It gradually becomes obvious that it’s just the two of them living alone in a caravan, after their mother’s disappearance. We spend a long time not knowing why they are in the situation they’re in for this particular summer – sneaking around food banks, relying on finding and returning lost pets for cash (which can be exchanged for marshmallow Flumps for Felicity), and hiding from knocks at the door. The mother’s history of drug and alcohol abuse tell us that she’s potentially not in a great situation.
No spoilers here; but since her sudden disappearance Harvey (played by Susie Coutts) has been trying to hold the two-person family together. It’s achingly sweet watching him try and care for his sister without any resources or knowledge, providing an education, playtime and tolerance. In turn, Felicity (played by Pallett) is as vibrant and carefree as you would want anyone that age to be. Their great characters, rather than the plot, builds up the tension to the awful moment we know is coming when their arrangement must fall apart. We’re taken to quite a high before being let fall.
Their progress through the summer, struggling to survive, has many lovely little moments, but taken all together drags on a bit. Quite episodic, it’s hard to tell the timeframe this takes place in and track progress. When the moment comes too, there’s a hitch. Felicity turns almost too serious when she hears where her mother really is. It’s traumatic, naturally. But the marked shift highlights what a great, natural, job Palletts was doing as this giddy eight-year-old before turning into this sober and scared version of what feels like an adult’s idea of a child. It would be heartbreaking to really see Felicity so hurt, but the shift makes it seem like a totally different character.
That notwithstanding, it’s an imaginative, sad but hopeful story. A fine balance is drawn, and with a simple set made of packing boxes and pipes there’s constantly shifting visuals for us to get to grips with. In a wider sense, the soundtrack highlights that not enough plays are soundtracked with Crazy Frog remixes – that and some smart additional music choices place us back in a more youthful, nostalgic frame of mind. Close enough in time to be recognisable and remembered, far enough away so we can look on it with a clearer eye.
When could a story about children left alone after their mother disappears from their lives be anything but grim? This certainly is, but funny, enjoyable and endearing too.
Runs until 28 August 2022
