Writer: John Dinneen
Director: Prime Isaac
Writing good characters is one of the hardest things for a dramatist to do, creating people who not only feel rounded and authentic but whose stories will sustain audiences throughout the play. John Dinneen’s group of youth centre workers in new play Tower (Of London), showing at the Camden People’s Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Festival, are a great group of characters with a dynamic that is believably salty and – although they would be reluctant to admit it – built on a shared respect for the relationship and enthusiasm they sustain for the kids they are trying to help.
With closures across the country, the Tower Youth Club is facing another review of its status and operations, so manager Darryl brings in grants manager Lucy to raise funds that could improve the offering before the inspectors arrive and undertake a series of team-building initiatives. Initially frustrating for colleagues Aaliyah and Kheiron, they all invest in the club but will their hard work be enough?
Dinneen’s 65-minute play is passionate about the importance of community youth centres and the gap their absence leaves behind and with around two-thirds closing in a decade, Tower (Of London) is both advocate for their importance as a consistent focal point and a celebration of an earlier era when they were better funded and respected. The sometimes-over-ambitious plot tries to draw in lots of different perspectives, staging scenes with invisible children, examining the co-workers’ interaction, thinking about the social and political perspectives and takes club leader Darryl into memories and flights of fancy, yet the warmth of Dinneen’s piece makes a keen argument for greater investment in youth facilities and support.
The play is at its best when it focuses on the team running the club, exploring the different personalities, their varied but effective approaches to connecting with the children and the backstories that brought them to the club in the first place. The early scenes with hostility to the less hands-on Lucy are well staged and could be extended, bringing out further depths to an argument she has with Aaliyah about the differences between charity and youth workers, and investing more time in how Lucy becomes a major part of the team.
Some of the other decisions make the show a little baggy including scenes with the children on trips or playing video games together. Dinneen has a tendency here to play the scene and then have adult characters meet to discuss it, so the show would be tighter and more dramatically satisfying if it relied just on the club workers discussing the aftermath of incidents, the child characters an absent presence instead.
Performed by Fahad Shaft as the decent but exhausted Darryl fighting every day for his youth club to stay open, Lola Mae Loughran as the deeply cynical but committed Aaliyah, the nervy but increasingly fulfilled Lucy played by Sarah Huckin and the football-loving Kheiron played by Marcus Omoro who the kids adore, Tower (Of London) is ripe for expansion into a fuller-length play but one that, like all good youth clubs, is built on the strength of the people running it.
Runs until 18 August 2024
Camden Fringe runs until 25 August 2024
