Run. Keep running. You’re doing the right thing. Lay low. Head down. Don’t look back. Just keep running, but whatever you do don’t tread on the cracks...... Read more …
Leo’s world has been turned upside down. With her parents gone and a creepy uncle becoming too close for comfort she’s certainly sure of one thing...she must get out. Leo’s on the run. She knows what she’s running from. Problem is where is she running to?
Adapted from the novel of the same name by the internationally acclaimed writer Julia Donaldson, Running on the Cracks is a fast-moving new play about runaways, identity, survival and how friendships can develop in the strangest situations.Arnold’s shorthand telling of the tale gets to the heart of the story’s testimony about hope and friendship, and new beginnings.
The 80-minute narrative is fast, jump-cut and exciting...yet I was left with a sense that the story contained one layer of darkness too many to be entirely convincing.
There is, suffice to say, no fairytale ending here; there are no easy solutions and no sugary denouement in this intelligent and moving play which pulses with the erratic heartbeat of the city streets.
The play achieves its main goal of getting people talking about the social issue it grapples with.
What the story is really about – Leonora and her Little Red Riding Hood journey of self-discovery – is obscured by the extraneous material from the novel. It is a weakness compounded by the unresolved ending, one that lessens the impact of the excitement that has preceded it.
Julia Donaldson's Running on the Cracks adapted for the stage
From page to stage
Tron Theatre, Glasgow from Wednesday February 6, 2013, until Saturday February 16, 2013. More info: www.tron.co.uk
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