Play for September review, Pleasance Islington

According to a report last week, the UK's biggest ticket agency reports a 71 per cent increase over four years in the number of 16 to 25-year-olds going to the theatre. It was no surprise then to be part of a very youthful audience for Lost Watch's first production, Play for September. Created by a young company and set in a school, it's the story of Kay and Elle and how one summer when Kay is 15 she develops a crush on their over-familiar but otherwise unremarkable English teacher Mr Bode. When he reciprocates with unintended consequences, all three lives are changed for ever.

School Daze

Play for September is laugh-a-minute funny, but it is also deeply moving. It blurs the lines, framing truths and certainties in ways that acknowledge the complexity of human behaviour. Mr Bode misleads and manipulates and is encouraged to do so by Kay, because she thinks he is the one, but when she finds herself out of her depth, is it his fault or hers that the inevitable happens? And, what about Elle, riddled with her own teenage anxieties and now bearing the weight of their secret? Should she compromise her own morality, and relationships at home, to cover for them?

The action happens around two desks and a classroom whiteboard. The dialogue is deliciously light and funny and, under Agnes Wild's direction, the performances are playful and endearing, mixing cunning and innocence in ways that resonated in the room.  The script is simple but the message is complex. The main story spans two years, and is sympathetic to all three characters.  This led to a lively debate on the way out with my companion who, at 22, is a similar age to Elle at the end of the play.

In conclusion: Olivia Hirst, who wrote Play for September, plays Kay with real charm, but it is the translucent Rianna Dearden as Elle who steals every scene: she has a mesmeric quality that constantly draws both eye and ear. Jim Crago is sad and creepy as the flawed Bode. It's an excellent hour of drama in a lovely space.

References
Play for September, Facebook Page

This review is of the last performance of the current run