WARRIOR SQUARE by Nick Wood. Roundabout on tour.
Young People
WARRIOR SQUARE
by Nick Wood
Nottingham Playhouse Roundabout Theatre in Education. In rep to Spring 2002
Runs 50min No interval
Age range: 9-12.
School performances only
Review Timothy Ramsden 30 November 2001 at Northgate Primary School, Nottingham.
Well told, finely performed new play about the experiences of young asylum seekers.Though it doesn't mention Bosnia, the names, costumes and experiences in Nick Wood's play can hardly leave much doubt, at least for adults. Warrior Square (apparently a Hastings location) is an ironic name; the two young asylum-seekers, brother and sister, who arrive there halfway through the rapid, economically told action, have already suffered persecution beginning with neighbours' silence and culminating in their father's murder, before reaching this south coast of an alien country.
They react differently; Riva's all for learning English and being positive. Andrea, stung by the mockery over having what's now a girl's name, is resentful. He takes refuge in his footballing skills, but even when this gains him acceptance he's shocked to find, in a rare lapse into self-conscious theme-mongering by the playwright, that it's to help the local lads beat a non-white team.
By starting and ending at a moment of hope, with brother Andrea and sister Riva given permission to stay in England and about to start school, the play gives a bright frame to its dark events and leaves its young audiences with a sense of responsibility. For any new people with foreign accents who start at their school, or move in to their street, can be allied with Sally Evans' Riva, a good friend for anybody, or understood to be going through the problems of Paul McGreevy's Andrea, adolescent anguish any sensible young person could understand.
Like all good Theatre in Education, Warrior Square in Kevin Dyer's production, speaks more through emotional understanding than overt statement. And like all really good TIE performers, Evans and McGreevy can create a range of fully-felt characters with a turn of the head or a switch of prop or costume.
Riva: Sally Evans
Andrea: Paul McGreevy
Director: Kevin Dyer
Designer: Katie Sykes
Music: Matt Marks
2001-12-03 02:08:55