New Celts Productions and Bone struck Theatre present Wish List by Katherine Soper, winner of the Burntwood Prize for Playwrights in 2015.
hard-hitting story is a harsh reality faced by many people in society...
The play tells the story of two young siblings attempting to cope in an adult’s world after the death of their mother. With the increased pressure to find work and increasing mental health problems life becomes an endurance test for them.
Tamsin (Chloë Johnson) feels she has no other option but to take on a zero-hour contract in a big, faceless corporation, in an attempt to meet the demands of the increasing bills stacking up at home. Cuts in her brothers’ benefits are increasing tensions at home, combined with Dean’s (Michael Robertson’s) mental health getting worse, life is exhausting.
Dean’s caught up in a debilitating circle of OCD which prevents him from leaving the house - despite being declared fit to work by the government. How can he be fit to get a job when he cannot even go outside? Robertson’s performance as Dean is outstanding and offers a heart breaking, realistic insight into the condition.
This hard-hitting story is a harsh reality faced by many people in society in the wake of benefit cuts and mental health problems that aren't accurately diagnosed and ignored to fit statistics. In the face of austerity and as the furlough schemes end, director Ian Dunn has brought the cast of four together to tell this important story at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Wish List provides a narrative for the problems and situations people face by benefit cuts and unspoken mental health problems. It never becomes a play looking for sympathy and a woe-is-us story, Tamsin wants to survive and better herself. What this play highlights is the lack of opportunities available to those who want to improve their quality of life and simply have a life they deserve for the people they love.
