The Bridge Theatre Company is one of two the winners of Ideas Fund Edinburgh 2011 – we gave them £10,000 and mentoring to support their production of Simon Vinnicombe's play Show Me the World. Edinburgh reporter Naomi O'Leary reports back from their preview at Theatre503 in London, while photographer Camilla Greenwell captures in action...
Show Me The World opens with a roar of voices.
The Bridge Theatre ensemble is gathered onstage, shouting out lines that interrupt each other, contradict and clash. In the enclosed space of the Theatre 503, the racket is almost unbearable. Yet as a dramatisation of the chaos of online commentary, it’s spot on.
The script by Simon Vinnicombe was inspired by and written for this cast of 19-year-olds. Slick interlocking scenes, Twitter threads and Skype video calls narrate the story of a loose group of friends as they come together and break apart.
The audience relax as they hear their own humour, delivered in their native register. “He’s a bit rapey” gets a huge laugh. It feels like we’ve been waiting for theatre to catch up with a changed world, and now it finally has.
The touchstone themes come thick and fast: celebrity, consumerism, isolation in a connected world. The monstrous 16-year-old Anjie, played with aplomb by Maria Kolandawel, steals the show with her mix of coquetry and casual violence.
This is a play about youth, but it’s fascinated by age. The characters are both seduced and appalled by the prospect of settling down, having children of their own. There’s a familiar note of panic to their mantra of making the most of their youth while it lasts.
There is something truly religious in the way the characters talk about Glastonbury. For those four magic days, we are told, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, and everyone you meet is your new best friend. The aim is to abandon oneself in thrall to a higher personality: it’s your choice, whether that’s Blur or Tinie Tempah.
The solution to a personality crisis, this play seems to suggest, is to take another swig of vodka and lose yourself in the crowd, because that moment of euphoria in the mosh pit really is everything to live for. Uncomfortable though the conclusion might be, it may well ring true for this generation.
One thing is for certain: with a talented cast and a bombshell script, this poignant play is one to watch at Edinburgh. See it from 4 to 28 August the Underbelly Cowgate and decide for yourself.
Buy tickets for Show Me the World.
IdeasTap will be running a series of career-boosting events at the Underbelly, Bristo Square, Edinburgh, from 8 to 23 August. Find out more on our Edinburgh microsite.