The Stage

Boys’ Plays/Extra Virgin

Published Friday 16 September 2011 at 11:02 by Paul Vale

Boys’ Play and Extra Virgin combine to make an evening of short plays with a connected theme of hero worship and obsession. The first is Jack Heifner’s Boys’ Play, a quirky and idiosyncratic story that threads through various strands of teenage angst before veering off vaguely towards science fiction.

Director Tim McArthur brings pace and urgency to an already frenetic script that never quite knows how pitch itself but the performances here are disarmingly earnest, resulting in a touching piece of theatre.

Alexander Pritchett as Tom has all the bravado of a teenage tearaway but his passion gives way to despair and there is only Matt Brinkler’s innocent Joe to console and dissuade him from an uncertain future.

Extra Virgin by Howard Walters initially puts the audience, well perhaps a Stag audience, a little more at ease in terms of subject matter and comedy although nothing is quite as it seems.

Walters tightly-woven drama illustrates the psychological, if not physical dangers of a simple sexual brief-encounter. Director Peter Bull allows the drama to unfold naturally and there are two stand-out performances by Kane John Scott and Freddie Hogan.

There is an underlying energy in Scott’s performance as Noah, giving us a sense that his character might be constantly manoeuvring the truth to suit his purposes. His prey is Hogan’s perfectly pitched, good-looking trick Elliot, an intense performance that is emotionally exhausting and remarkably honest given the range here.

Designer David Shields has produced a simple but adaptable setting that offers two very different designs that manage to complement both plays equally.

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