THEATRE YOUTH THEATRE Amateur New Writing part of Greater Manchester Fringe Festival I DON'T WANT TO PLAY ANYMORE Salford Arts Theatre, SALFORD

I have seen many plays written by the young Associate Artist of Salford Arts Theatre, the talented Libby Hall; however, this piece of new writing marks a departure in her writing style, not necessarily more mature, but certainly an experimenting with her own creativity. It was also written to be performed by a youth theatre too, since all the characters are mid-teenagers. It therefore fell upon the Salford Arts Theatre's own Youth Company to perform this for Greater Manchester Fringe Festival this year, under the tuition and direction of Roni Ellis. 

'I Don't Want To Play Anymore' is about the roll of the dice in the Game Of Life. What is chance and what is preordained? What should we be doing and can we do anything to change it or make it better? Does what we do in our lives effect how we live our future lives, and how much of this has an impact on those around us? And could we alter these situations if we knew? - Wow... heavy stuff! However, Hall's script is cleverly, if not ideally. constructed by starting at the end and taking us on several possible flashbacks to arrive at the ultimate conclusion. It doesn't make much sense to begin with, but it does piece itself nicely altogether by the end and you leave with a complete understanding of the whole.  

Performed in a thrust format, with two rows of seats on three sides, Ellis also introduced the youths to one of the fundamental practices of Brechtian Theatre; that of having the unused cast seated and in the shadows as silent witnesses to the unfolding action on stage. One might also go as far as to consider the costuming somewhat Brechtian too, since they were all dressed in jeans (or tracksuit bottoms) and plain single-coloured T-shirts, thus making them work all the harder to bring their characterisations forth from their acting ability alone. No set, save a few rehearsal blocks at the rear of the stage, and only a myriad lighting and sound cues to progress the narrative outside of the acting.

Ellis's direction was solid and secure, and the cast knew where and what they were tasked in doing, although it was really quite samey and repetitive (perhaps a slight 'fault' in the writing there too), and much of the performance was geared almost exclusively to the central rows of seats, with scant consideration to those seated on the two sides. 

12 youngsters (I would imagine between 12 and 15 years at a guess) performed their roles with understanding and they all undoubtedly gained invaluable experience from this production, learning about ensemble theatre, which this piece clearly was. My one hope is that for future performances the cast cumulatively raise their voices somewhat; even given the proximity of cast / audience, I was struggling to hear much of the dialogue. Well done to all nevertheless.

Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu

On - 7.7.25