The Animals

When trainee teacher Sam arrives at Redhill Youth Custody Secure Unit hoping to enrich the troubled residents’ lives there by introducing them to the subject of Philosophy he doesn’t know what to expect.    This challenging subject matter contained frequent strong language, mild sexual references and a whole range of trigger warnings, but the direction was so clearly contained and the writing so relevant that the topics were addressed in an appropriate way and artistically presented without appearing pretentious.

Fred Firth as Sam was the living personification of walking anxiety.   His whole physicality was so perfectly ‘anxious’ that the juxtaposition of his delivery of the line “We’re all doing just great” was hugely impactive as the reality was so very different.   Izzy Cowie as Jay gave a reflective and poised performance.  Her representation of her injuries was very convincing.  Ash was played by Matthew Tordoff who gave a very powerful monologue.   Gee (Amelia Sorby) is on the verge of being released from the secure unit and is hiding her terror at this prospect.  Sorby used strong delivery and considered moves to build her character.

The class are very wary of using what they perceive to be an out-dated and alien way of thinking, but they begin to accept it when they find themselves to be challenged and empowered.  Sammie Wilkins gave a great reflective description of their court experience and the crest behind the judge, whilst haunting sound effects played and the animals within the crest were represented by other actors.  Ebonnie Mills showed wonderful attitude as Kelli, complete with a rap.  Hannah Dobson had great delivery as Ede particularly as her character was struggling to describe a new concept.   Ben Brown was a confused Zane, but we saw his character develop through the piece with increasing personal expression, especially as he described the demise of his childhood pet.  Constance Butterworth playing Don really grasped the narrative “Proper deep with your thoughts.”  Through the story telling the young people showed the importance of listening and developing understanding to allow development.

The group worked beautifully together as an ensemble with entrancing movement during the monologues and Gee’s speech.  The ensemble cast of Edward Lenton, Jack McAyoy, Niamh Naughton and Francesca Thomas – Kovacs were a delight to watch making their entrances and exits at very precise moments in the script, almost as spirit animals who appeared when the tension increased in the plot.  Wonderful work.

The use of sound effects and lighting was very creative.   Music had been composed for the piece by John Broadhead, who also designed the lighting.  The repeated sound of the heartbeat as anxiety levels increased was of particular note (Ash Howick).  The cast used boxes on a simple open stage and it was really powerful when they slammed them all down in unison.  The costumes were grey ‘youth offending’ jogging bottoms and tops.  The animal masks made from folded paper were useful in demonstrating the characters, but it was the way in which each of the characters moved as the animal they represented which really made them work.  The ‘injury’ (make up) looked very realistic.

This piece is very hard hitting, but the creative team had clearly worked with the cast to understand the implications of the challenges faced by these young people resulting in a moving piece of theatre.  Congratulations to Producer, Elvira Mannanova and Directors Sarah Osborne and John Broadhead, along with all the cast and crew, for a very impactive performance.

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