REVIEW: Rat King at the Hope Theatre

There can be no doubt that we live in disturbed and troubling times. The landscape for young people has never been more challenging and aggressive. The quest for affirmation and acceptance leaves little room for any perception of failure. Is it any real surprise that kids will sometimes look for alternatives; an escape route from the expectation and pressure of modern life? This new play by Bram Davidovich explores these themes and many others, as two youths find their way in the life they have chosen. Jacko is streetwise and world-weary for someone so young. Kelly has just broken free of the parental control suffocating her with kindness. She is now the sorcerer’s apprentice as Jacko shows her the ways of a very different world.

Kelly (Matilda Childs) has a comfortable family home with well-meaning but overbearing parents. However, the regimentation of school and regular medication becomes a monotonous daily grind. Her inner demons dictate that she has to make a run for it. But what exactly is 'it'? Pure unadulterated freedom is the answer, and the sense she answers to no one but herself. Kelly soon meets Jacko (Melker Nilsson), a homeless young man who lives on his wits. His reasons for becoming a runaway are in total contrast to Kelly. Jacko was driven from his home by too little kindness and understanding. They gradually realise how much common ground is shared and have a similar emotional trajectory. A peculiar relationship develops between the pair, but can they survive the shifting sands of street life with their sanity intact?

REVIEW: Adam and Eve at the Hope Theatre

The Hope Theatre Islington is one of the small London pub theatres that are severely limited as a space. A black box, with two rows of seats each side and a single entrance to the acting area in one corner. It creates a challenge for the director and actors as it is inevitable that the cast will have their backs to the audience for part of the time.

However this latest offering, Adam and Eve directed by Jennifer Davis rises to this challenge and offers an engaging "Did he do it?" dilemma. Adam is a teacher, Eve an estate agent. They are newlyweds and in love when Nikki, a pupil at school provides the temptation. It must be a familiar situation and Tim Cook's play cleverly unpicks the story so we never sure who is telling the truth. As Eve says, there is no smoke without fire but equally in the #MeToo era the saying “innocent until proved guilty” applies.

Jeannie Dickinson, is excellent as Eve, switching effectively between loving wife, to supportive partner to doubting independent woman. Melissa Parker is Nikki, the clever, sly, scheming pupil who tests the strength of her love. She sees it as a project based on her understanding of the novel Jane Eyre. Lee Knight as Adam is gradually broken down by the unfolding “evidence” from confident denial to a desperate exasperated reflection.