Goodbye Rosetta abounds with youthful enthusiasm and passion. That’s hardly surprising given its development by 30 young actors in collaboration with writer Katherine Manners and Director, Conor Baum. On stage, the actors from The Hungry Wolf Visionary Theatre perform a tale of teenage tribulation for whom the pending delivery of examination results is only one of their worries.
Abounds with youthful enthusiasm and passion.
The Rosetta space probe spent 12 years orbiting Comet 67P. On 30th September 2016 it made a hard landing that ended its life. Previously, its lander module Philae had successfully descended and sent back some information, but its batteries ran out after two days and eventually communication was cut off. This journey became something of a metaphor that encapsulated aspects of life for many young people. Combined with Matt Haig’s inspirational, award-winning book, Reasons to Stay Alive, it created the stimulus for this production.
The play moves with pace through a gamut of scenes that expose anxiety, depression and loneliness among the kids, but it’s not all doom and gloom. This road of discovery tackles issues of teenage mental health and peer pressure in a lively, sensitive and humorous manner through characters that could be found in schools throughout the country. Gazing into the heavens and marvelling at meteors enhances friendships and fosters romance. It doesn’t end happily for everyone but that is the nature of life.
The ensemble consists of Oscar Lloyd, Pauline Kehlet-Schou, Owen Edmonds, Brontë Sandwell-Moore, Jasper Ryan-Cater, Georgia Simpson, Brenock O’Connor, Amy Lubach, Mia Mottie and understudies Jessica Smith and Roman Hayeck-Green. Each creates a character with specific circumstances and personality traits that are well-established from first appearance and develop over the course of tightly intertwined events. The language is natural, the relationships are credible and the performance are a credit to all. It’s rather more of an overview than an in-depth study of issues and in that respect perhaps tries to include too much.
The cast are an indication of the talent that exists among the next generation of actors and they are a joy to behold. We can join with them and say with Bette Davis, ‘Don’t let’s ask for the moon, we have the stars’.
