Engaging new writing from unseasoned playwrights

Unseasoned, Back Here! Theatre Company

Shooting Star at Liverpool Street, Monday 15th October

Monday's trip to see Back Here! Theatre Company’s collection of new work Unseasoned was an unexpected delight. This was a showcase from actors at the beginning of their careers, performing new writing that consisted of four short plays and four monologues plus a sizzling UK premiere of Tennessee Williams’s short play In Our Profession. Slightly unseasoned though they sometimes seemed, it was in general high quality, thought-provoking (especially to the mid-twenties crowd who made up most of the audience) and hugely entertaining.

My general sense was that because the actors and playwrights were young, they were addressing all the concerns that I feel most vividly at the age of 25. From the slow decay of relationships to the terror of parental death, our generation's fundamental fears were examined in ways that were, if a little rough around the edges, simultaneously poignant, genuine and laugh-out-loud funny. 

Choosing art with a boyfriend devolves into a histrionic analysis of the relationship’s flaws. What at first seems to be the 'awkward turtle' of two people's first encounter through a sex dating website is actually a desperate attempt to revive a couple’s failing sex life. A tramp provides the cathartic ear a young man needs for his woes, accompanied by a repulsive, but enlightening, swig from a cigarette-saliva-rimmed can of White Lightening.

Although some of the acting wasn't perfect, and some of the scenes not entirely coherent, overall I found the evening absorbing and very enjoyable. The fusion of comedy and pathos, of light-hearted banter and grave admissions of mortality and heartache, worked well to bring alive a host of characters and situations that were at once unique and universal. Which is ultimately what all good theatre should do.

And they're doing it all again next Tuesday 23rd October - for details see their facebook page here.