Solid script and acting by Youth Theatre players

September 7th, 2012
[Reviewed by David Armstrong]

An appreciative audience were treated to a well presented, locally written teenage morality play at the opening night of the Imagine Youth Theatre's latest play, "The Negligibles" last night.

A simple set of stage props and slick scene changes allowed the story to unfold and flow easily, maintaining attention throughout the one-hour play, and generally very good acting performances maintained interest in the characters.

The story told of a group of teenagers in a flat in a town just like Motueka, recently left school and without any great ambitions apart from to enjoy themselves and attract partners. They don't want to be like the rough crowd of boys flatting down the road, but also see nothing better than their present unchallenging jobs.

Along comes a new flatmate, Genevieve, a loud and cynical visitor from the USA (favourite phrase: "Whatever") who tells them life can be much better, or at least more fun, in the party lane, just like it is in the big city. The three Kiwi boys need little temptation and are soon into drinking games and a big party, while their two female flatmates are more circumspect and dubious but eventually join in.

Things turn to custard in a dramatic way (I won't spoil the story), leading to a slow and sad realisation by the mates - and also to a degree by the American loudmouth - that it is better to look after your mates and live your own culture rather than pretending the wild side is anything better.

The five flatmates, Adele (played by Ella Doty), Daniel (Daniel Tideman), Paul (Jacob Linn), Samuel (Nathan Peacock) and Sarah (Cloer Taylor) portray very convincingly the image that many adults see in today's teenagers. Their prosaic Kiwi-speak is natural and the topics of general chatter are very recognisable, laced with the usual cynicism and 'who cares' attitude. This shows a good ear by the scriptwriter.

The characters were well written to show different personalities, and the actors showed considerable ability in portraying them. At times Sarah was just a little quiet to be heard clearly, sometimes the precociously talented Daniel hammed it up just a bit too much, and Samuel's more reflective character was a challenge to portray naturally, but overall the actors did very well indeed, and will learn heaps from this challenge.

Much of the effect of the dialogue depends on the flow being maitained, and here there were mixed results on the opening night. Many times it flowed beautifully, with actors picking up the timing well to bounce the chatter to and fro, but at other times possibly nervousness with the lines (and there certainly were plenty to learn) meant there were small gaps just enough to jolt the viewer's involvement. I became engrossed whenever the dialogue seemed natural. Timing is something difficult to teach, and these young actors will certainly get better with experience.

The five also had difficulty at times in their movements, or lack of them, but perhaps this may have actually reinforced the impression that nothing much was actually going on during their random conversations. A few too often, however, the actors formed an even line across the stage when talking to each other, when in a natural setting someone would usually be moving or doing something (like scratching their ear) other than just looking at the person speaking.

But then when action was required, there was plenty of it, and portrayed with good effect, though the scenes involving people at ground level were difficult for those further back in the audience to see.

All spoke clearly and with good pace, so no lines were lost - a common problem with youth theatre - and there was no trouble following the story line. A small suggestion would be that when voices are to be heard from off-stage, they do not need to be shouted; often they came to the audience actually louder than the on-stage dialogue.

Which brings us to the show's scene-stealer, Genevieve the American arrival (Halina Horn). Her accent was excellent, her production could not be faulted, and her expression and movement generally was top-notch. She was believably disruptive and seductive. Well done to the scriptwriter for giving her such great lines.

The play was written and directed by recent Motueka High School head boy, Jon Anderson. He has done a very good job in writing such a believable script, and using the characters to tell the story through the script.

His direction kept the show moving quickly, and he used many small mini-scenes - such as the hillarious snoring-passengers-in-airplane segment, and the Warehouse checkout operators - to tell some parts of the story in a n effective jigsaw fashion. And the way he created the climactic post-party moment was innovative and full of impact.

My only criticism, and the bit I felt most uncomfortable with, was the use twice of the actors lined up talking to the audience to explain the setting and what they were thinking, once at the very start and once at the turning point of the story when the boys succumbed to temptation and the flat dynamics went awry.

The story was strong enough, and the actors sufficiently skilled, to let the play speak for itself, set the scene and introduce and explain the players. It felt that perhaps Jon may have doubted this and so decided to tell those parts directly.

Memorable for me, though, were the accuracy of observation in the cynical teenaged dialogue and the portrayal of emotions toward the end when things went wrong and the characters regretted the errors of their ways.

This is a play well worth seeing, and hopefully a step up for some promising local actors into more challenging roles in adult theatre. The three remaining shows are tonight and Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. Go see it!

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