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theatre

The Boy James

Southwark Playhouse, London, 11-28 January 2011

cast list
Jethro Compton, Lucy Farrett, James Wilkes

directed by
Dominic J Allen

At its best, interactive theatre can be exhilarating – at its worst, excruciating. Unfortunately, Belt Up Theatre’s new production, The Boy James, falls squarely into the latter camp.

The story, such as it is, revolves around ideas of youth, innocence and adulthood, but they are presented in such an incoherent way it barely matters. The play is inspired by the life of Peter Pan creator J M Barrie (though unless you knew this in advance, it would be impossible to tell, beyond the use of some Peter Pan type imagery and conceits). While it aims to be engaging and interactive, it just feels badly thought through and poorly executed.

Entering a room set up like an overstuffed study, the audience was left to seat themselves wherever they could (and it pays to choose wisely – my companion was unseated from her place midway through so that one of the characters could have her seat). We are exhorted by “the boy” to join in a series of parlour games: this was embraced enthusiastically by those members of the audience who looked like fresh faced drama students, while the rest of us cringed and tried to hide: possibly this was supposed to help us get in touch with our inner child, but it felt like nothing so much as being forced to entertain an acquaintance’s demanding toddler.

There is little resembling a plot; the boy tries to convince a broken, alcohol-addicted grown up James to go on another adventure but is rebuffed by the adult who has left childhood imaginings behind. The arrival of “the girl” unsettles him, an initially silent figure who explodes unexpectedly into violence and sexual aggression. Doubtless this is supposed to signify how sexuality corrodes innocence, but in making the girl the aggressor – at one stage she pretty much rapes the child – it feels vaguely misogynistic; if only it wasn’t for all those rapacious females and their evil ways, the boys could stay uncorrupted and have fun forever!

Both Dominic J Allen’s direction and the performances are limited by the paucity of the material: Jethro Compton as the boy replaces any genuine interpretation of youth with a stupid voice and the impression of mental impairment; Lucy Farrett is slightly more compelling as the girl, but is fatally hampered by the clunkiness of Alexander Wright’s dialogue. As James, James Wilkes has little to do but look miserable and walk in and out of the room.

It’s a shame, because there are some nice touches. The arrival of the girl in the fireplace is a dramatic piece of theatre, and the beautiful and intimate set creates an immediacy that ends up sadly wasted. The actors have an impressive physicality, hurling themselves at one another while negotiating the proximity of the audience with aplomb. (At one stage, the couple were having frantic simulated sex on the chair I was leaning against, inches from my head: luckily, I’m from Newcastle so that’s just a normal Friday night for me).

But with no real story to anchor it, the play has no direction and no momentum; at only an hour long, it still feels like it drags, and the whole thing feels strangely pointless. File under brave but failed attempt.

- Tracey Sinclair