THEATRE REVIEW: Drowning - 53Two, Manchester.

This short, current, north western tour of Jake Talbot's one-hour play, 'Drowning', gives audience's another chance to see him portray the troubled teenager one more time before he perhaps becomes too old himself to inhabit the role. 

This is a one-man show, a full-length monologue if you like, in which Talbot plays a normal and likeable teenager. His appeal is immediate, as he chats to the audience in much the same way Alan Bennett's characters in 'Talking Heads' do; they speak out directly to the void, but never truly acknowledge that anyone is watching / listening. They speak their inner thoughts out loud. The stage is bare, save a single white box centre stage [not sure why it is white?], and he is dressed in school uniform. The language he uses which includes many expletives, is typical of his age, and his openness about his sex life and the way he describes it is also spot on for an older teenager. Where Talbot doesn't quite hit the spot now is in the energy and body language of the character. This is the third time I have seen Talbot inhabit this role, from the very early stirrings of a WIP at Grange Arts Centre years ago, and somehow, because Talbot has aged himself, he seems now to be trying to compensate just a little to much in order to try and be believable, and yet in so doing, the energy and impetuousness he shows is more typical of a young teenager and not of a 17 year old, who would undoubtedly be somewhat laissez-faire and more sulky perhaps. It is a difficult balance given the subject matter and the way it has been directed admittedly, but I just felt that it wasn't quite as truthful in this regard as it has been previously.

Talbot is, nevertheless, an extremely charismatic performer and is fully capable of holding our attention throughout as he has to negotiate school bullies, two girlfriends and the relationship heartache that these cause, the death of his mother, and then a school friend's suicide. It all becomes a little bit too much for him, and he is metaphorically "drowning". His coping mechanisms aren't as well tuned as an adults' perhaps, and as one might already have guessed the drowning becomes more literal. However the end of the play here was a little abrupt and one felt there was something else needed - I can't say what, but it felt a little rushed and unconsidered perhaps. 

This notwithstanding, the play is an excellent exposé on teenager woes, life, and their mental health. There is much attention at the moment in the media about such issues and teenage suicides; and this play sympathetically negotiates such issues with what might be perhaps first-hand knowledge and understanding. A talented actor and writer, Talbot delivers his 60-minute tour-de-force with style.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 5.3.23