Voices From Home – King’s Head Theatre, London.

Writers: Francis Grin (Click Delete), Natalie Froome (You Know You Can’t Hold Me Forever), Rachelle Grubb (Rags), Francesca Marie Claire (Stick It To Me), Roxanne Cavanagh (Corkscrews).

Directors: Sophie Drake (Click Delete), Lauren Tranter (You Know You Can’t Hold Me Forever), Gwenan Bain (Rags), Rosa Higgs (Stick It To Me), Tim Cook (Corkscrews).

For two nights the King’s Head Theatre is hosting a showcase of new writing from South-East England, five very short playlets from five new writers, directed by five new directors. Voices From Homes is a programme devised by Broken Silence Theatre from Brighton, with a commitment to ‘regional writers, unheard voices, and the here and now’, and Pistachio Theatre, which was set up by two graduates from the Guildford School of Acting to increase representation for Muslim and Moroccan artists on stage.

Apart from Elle Zahrouni’s impressive monologue in Stick It To Me, the plays are two-handers, snap-shots of relationship crises with a strong inclination towards the examination of the problems that beset mid-twenties graduates from the Home Counties – losing touch with friends when you go up to university, dealing with relationships that fracture under the pressures of getting work and paying rent. The community from which the subjects are drawn is very localised, but the resulting pieces are remarkable – funny, touching, and delivering hard truths in strikingly terse sketches. They are very short – the five pieces come and go in less than an hour of stage time, the set elements are minimal, the change-overs are really fast, the casts get on and off without any fuss. Kitty Evans appears in two of the pieces, otherwise the casts are separate, but they all act as each others’ stage-hands when needed, and presumably enjoy a cosy closeness off-stage.

All of the acting is engaging and effective, special mentions going to Andy Sellers for embodying a nicely delineated set of characters in Click Delete, and Elle Zahrouni’s unflinching representation of a Sex-Ed teacher dealing with reproductive problems in Stick It To Me. The frankness is notable, and her wielding of intimate props eye-watering. The piece is open, honest, and funny. It’s probably the pick of the pieces, looking to articulate a larger problem than temporarily leaving home, but all five have stories to tell that are worth the telling, all five are wry and reflective, all five make up an entertaining evening, all five introduce new talent who will certainly develop in interesting ways. Broken Silence and Pistachio have put together an excellent showcase.

Reviewed on 16 October 2022.