Lorna Irvine reviews 'One of the most joyful, sad, poignant, life-affirming slices of verbatim theatre yet.'
Kids,eh? The things they say; the little tinkers. Children in Britain today face an uncertain future: of poverty; of unemployment; of Jeremy Kyle's finger of justice jabbing in their faces as he spits out bigoted invective.
None of these things appeal, and yet the simple premise of Chris Goode's little marvel Monkey Bars acts as a kind of reclaiming of our modern nation's children- as wonderful, vivacious, smart and imaginative people instead of vilifying or patronising them.
As the best ideas often are, it is a simple enough premise: 40 eight-to-ten-year-olds were interviewed about their lives, hopes and fears, and their words are spoken by a six-strong cast of adult actors clad in monochrome clothes sitting on white luminous blocks as though at a business meeting or out in bars quaffing white wine.
Philip Bosworth's Ode to Green Jelly, which opens the piece, is hilarious: haltingly sung for authenticity and could have been penned in full idiot savant flow by David O' Doherty. Elsewhere, we get the pressing question, “Do bubble-gum monsters in hot tubs melt?” or in one earnest little boy's voice, the statement, “Girls are just dressing like chavs these days. In short skirts. It's just…just wrong!”
Of course, it's not always cute or frivolous subject matter: one boy worries about going out at night because he's heard that people get raped or murdered; another has witnessed his Mum being punched by his Dad.
A wider questioning of the world such kids will inherit persists, but it's the sight of the ever-wonderful Cathy Tyson eating crisps and talking about “famous people bein' famous an' that,” with all the deadpan gravitas of a world leader discussing third world debt, or the wide-eyed physicality of Christian Roe, so endearing and well-observed, that sticks.
We can learn a lot from the young, and Monkey Bars is one of the most joyful, sad, poignant, life-affirming slices of verbatim theatre yet. I want to see it again. NOW!
www.chrisgoodeandcompany.co.uk
www.unicorntheatre.com
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