Families come in all shapes and sizes. Older brother Jay (Cameron Dobson) arrives home from prison to find that the life he had left behind has changed for his Sister Lou (Megan Ryder-Maki) and younger brother Tommy (George Barrs). Suffocated by debt the pair blame each other for the families demise and uncertain future.
Has the potential to be an extremely powerful piece.
The three siblings have been abandoned by their father after the death of their mum. They live in a small rented flat, which is far from ideal. Lou's binge drinking sessions help her to cope with the life she has found herself living. Although alcohol is not a solution, only an escape, it's understandable why she has fallen into this pattern.
Barrs' performance of the younger, autistic brother Tommy was outstanding. From the frustrated emotional outbursts that erupted while his brother and sister argued to the way in which he described in detail how time itself worked – certainly not a concept I had considered in such detail before. The way in which he delivered his role was persuading and emotional.
Writer Melissa Hale comments "These three characters are trying their best to survive in a system which is broken", and they slip through the system into becoming another forgotten statistic. She has captured some difficult social observations that many of us are not even aware of.
The production has the potential to be an extremely powerful piece as it delivers a hard social commentary on life in Britain for some families, although there were a couple of scenes which would definitely benefit from being tightened up in order to create the desired impact that the writer was attempting to make.
