42 laburnum Avenue

This new piece of writing by Tom Casling was submitted as an entry to the Durham & Sunderland One Act Festival, a qualifying round in the All-England Theatre Festival.

The hard hitting play is centred on the address of 42 Laburnum Avenue and two of the people who have lived there. In a quest to rekindle some childhood memories, Dave Armstrong had made contact with the property’s current resident Katie Foxton and asked if he could have a look around the house. Against her better judgment Katie allows the visit but as Dave reminisces, it isn’t long before he becomes embroiled in the violent and sad life that Katie leads. After borrowing £400 from a loan shark four years ago, Katie is now being pursued for £5000 amid threats of violence and suggestions of “other ways to pay”. During the unravelling of the protagonist’s background stories it becomes apparent that the thing that the past and present resident of this address have in common is abuse during childhood and Dave offers to help Katie escape her current situation.  The conclusion of the play is thought provoking and brings a realisation and reminder that this sort of situation readily exists in our society.

The main characters of Dave and Katie were played by Tom Casling and Nicole Webster who gave excellent portrayals of these damaged individuals and showed us terror, compassion and desperation in their performances. The play is essentially a two hander with only short interjections from Tony Briggs, the loan shark, which was played with conviction and menace by Callum Cameron.  The pace of the play was good and didn’t need the prompting the actors received but this did not undermine the very powerful performances.

The set was simple but appropriate and lighting was used to highlight the different performance areas so that the play flowed seamlessly from one scene to another.  

Congratulations to all involved for your awards received at the festival and for getting to the Northern semi-final, well deserved.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.