Available to watch for free on Youtube, this is a very short (less than 2 minute) monologue performed by a young girl, perhaps no more than 10 or 11 years' old.
The monologue was written by writer and theatre critic Mark Davoren and directed by Rebecca Casey, whilst the young actress in question is the talented Yazmin Walker.
It's a very short story, and the girl chats, perhaps more to herself than anyone, sharing her thoughts out loud. She has mixed feelings about the lockdown and not going to school. On the one hand, not going to school is good, but on the other it means being stuck in the house all day with parents and not allowed out to visit friends.
However, she has come up with an alternative home schooling system... one where the traditional parent / child roles are reversed. A fun and interesting premise which has a deal of scope to be developed and brought to life. An all-too-brief encounter with Walker and her home schooling ideas... I especially wanted to see the results of her mum's home economics class!
There was one minor stumbling block with this piece of new writing, which director Rebecca Casey seemes to have overlooked. Walker is undoubtedly talented and has a lovely manner and approach to the script and the camera; however, vocally she tends to run away with herself and so when she gets excited her speech is too quick for us to pick up. Perhaps Casey should have asked her to slow down a little at these moments, without losing any of her energy or focus. Absolutely not Walker's fault though.
I hope we will see more of this alternative home schooling, as it has the latitude to be teased much further into a lovely comedy.
Thanks NWE Live (the producers) for sharing.
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 22/7/20
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