ED2018 4/5 Reviews ED2018 Theatre Reviews

Island Town (Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd)

By | Published on Wednesday 8 August 2018

Double portrait: first, a nameless nowhere town, depressed and declining, cut off from the fields around it by the choking girdle of the ring-road. Second, three inhabitants of this town: in the park, sixteen years old, drinking super-strength cider. These three are desperately bored and starved of opportunity, which is what makes Sam and Pete so susceptible to Kate’s manipulative charisma. Social realism is a part of ‘Island Town’, as cuts to care services are part of the cocktail that produces Kate’s nihilism. But her captivating personality, played by a haunting, electric Katherine Pearce, is at the centre. It’s more a single portrait by the end-one exquisitely painted by Dominic Kennedy and Peter Small’s sound and lighting design.

Summerhall, until 26 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alexander Hartley]

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