By the time it ends, you marvel at the depth of their arguments presented.
To start with, don’t call them ‘Millennials’. They consider it a term used by the establishment media to label everything that is bad about the current crop of underachieving young people who are simply lazy and are naively idealistic about politics. Indeed, they are very sensitive to the fact that they may never achieve their aims due to various factors including the wilful misrepresentation of their opinions and the constant digitisation of dissent which invariably numbs the public with sensationalism.
In each segment of the show, a topic is introduced and debate between the three actors primarily drive the intellectual energy of the production. Along the way, they find comedy in the nonsensical platitudes of political discourse (ones usually followed by political inaction). There are brilliant moments in the play, such as when each character takes turn to mimic such political speeches in a mock scene of Prime Minister’s Questions, with some original satire lifting the gloom out of their hopeless situation.
There is a clear absence of plot to Child’s Play, with the entire act moving along the trajectory of increasing spleen and disenfranchisement of this marginalised group of otherwise politically-active students. In this respect, the play can seem rather one-dimensional and it certainly takes effort on the part of the audience to invest in this mostly recitative performance, intriguing though it may be. By the time it ends, you marvel at the depth of their arguments presented – and you might even be persuaded – yet you would hardly leave the show feeling enlightened, entranced or properly engaged.
