Click here!

Arts:Blog

Festival Review: Forever Young ****

Rachael Keiller reflects on a production that became a personal journey.

Has someone ever asked you, ‘What is theatre?’ and you were actually able to give them a quick answer?

Forever Young challenged my meaning of theatre on a whole new level. Over the years I have seen a lot of weird and wonderful stuff, but this clever piece by young Irish group ‘one step at a time like this’ challenged them all.

Standing at the carousel in the Princes Street Gardens my phone buzzes. ‘Can you see me?’ I am asked, and so my journey began. To begin with I thought this was a journey around Edinburgh watching little pieces of theatre and meeting the actors as they performed monologues and asked me questions.

The real journey however, was my own.

Throughout, the group had subtly been studying me, challenging me and trying to see if they could capture my inner adolescent. Was it still in there? This piece allowed me to explore myself. Was I still the same carefree, risk-taking, passionate dreamer? Or had life suppressed that, or made it disappear completely?

To finish my quest (after riding a scooter, stealing an apple, gambling, climbing on things, searching for clues and lots more), I found myself in a small room. Pictures of myself on the wall, little notes about my personality and what I had done, and my favourite teenage song playing.

I was totally surprised that the whole piece had actually revolved around me. I was too busy trying to work out the storyline and characters to notice. I was confused about narrative and the structure of the piece, but all that didn’t seem to matter when I realised what was really going on.

I smiled all the way home after that, clutching onto my inner teen, feeling blessed to have experienced this and remembering not too take life too seriously.

Forever Young has completed its run.

Comments: 0 (Add)

To post a comment, you need to sign in or register. Forgotten password? Click here.

Find a show


Search the site


Find us on …

Find us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFind us on YouTube

Click here!