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Theatre: Keeping the Kids AmusedReview by: Paul HadfieldFortnight, No. 238 (May 5 - 18, 1986), p. 25Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25550850 .

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PAULHADFIELrr CHRISTINA REID'S play, Joyriders

(presented by Paine's Plough and which

regrettably ran for one week only at the

Lyric) opens with an autobiographical sketch. A clutch of YOPs, accompanied

by their 'leader', turn up one evening at

the theatre itself and are by and large vastly entertained by the folly of theatre

going. The week before, I had seen the Belfast

Actors' Cooperative production of The

Merchant of Venice. Productions of

Shakespeare always raise the question of

what the theatre should be doing to en

courage theatre-going among the young.

They are often inspired by the misplaced assumption that Shakespeare will come

across better in the theatre than he does in

the classroom. He doesn't.

Firstly, Shakespearean language is ar

chaic. It has to be subjected to close scru

tiny and reflection. Secondly, it is in

action, not in reflection that theatre's

causes can be found. Reflection is its effect. For poetry, (and Shakespearean

poetry in particular), the opposite is true.

Poetry is the result of reflection; experi

encing its meaning is a reflective, if sym

pathetic act. It is this process that most

exactly mirrors the traditional structures

and value-systems of the school curricu

lum. The mainspring of theatrical per

formance, the tension between action and

reflection is irretrievably lost between the

KEEPING THE KIDS AMUSED classroom (where the major, and reflec

tive work, takes place) and the playing field. In a traditional school most of the theatrical activity is found in the toilets or the changing-rooms.

In its own terms there were interesting

things about the Belfast Actors' Coopera tive production of The Merchant of Venice

and I don't want to raise here any specific criticism of it. The larger question is whether young people's discovery of the

pleasure of theatre-going can initially be

enhanced and developed by watching en

actments of a playwright in whom con

temporary interest is logically academic.

Studying the piece at all so clearly genu flects at language' towards the problems raised by the inaccessibility of its 'poetic'.

Until a system can be devised in which these problems can be subsumed, or both

actors and audience alike Shakespearean

productions will continue to be self-con

scious pieces of anti-theatre.

Joyriders however, with the single ex

ception of the opening scene described

earlier, delights in an unselfconscious en

ergy that carries the play and the audience

forward without strain or pompousness.

Although there is little apparent action in the first half, Christina Reid develops a

plausible, if slight, plot in which a middle class socialist (Veronica Duffy) generates public interest for, and support in, a

scheme for deprived adolescents. As

Shakespeare does, Christina Reid relies on dialogue to paint pictures. Attention is

sustained through the accessible, fast

moving, comic style of the piece; through the creation of a realistic situation out of

which she develops sympathetic charac

ters from pretty intractable material. She

maintains interest by holding back the

possibility of catastrophe. In the second half, her fragmentation of the image of a

putative social harmony is accomplished with great skill and theatricality.

Joyriders came to Belfast from a British tour that has been very successful; partly

because the play uses a topical, and deadly

metaphor to define a more general condi

tion. The 'youth opportunity' scheme it

self is ultimately no more than a shallow, heartless 'joyride' in its young people's

despair. Christina Reids young people rail at the condescension and complacency of the Government authorities towards

their special problems. This is summed up in a painfully comic song in which the

group complain about the difficulties of

getting compensation should you should

split open your head in the stairwell of Divis Flats. "Executive own the steps, and

the DOE own the wall."

Northern Ireland audiences however, will feel some pride in the director, Pip Broughton's casting; Gerard O'Hare from

the Newry Youth Drama Group; Clare Cathcart from Omagh and the Ulster Youth Theatre; Michelle Fairleigh of the

Fringe Benefits Theatre Company; and Fabian Cartwright, one of the first theatre

graduates from what is now the University of Ulster. I don't subscribe to the popular view that one has to experience something to be able to act it out. Yet it is clear that

this youthful cast's sense of place gives the

level of commitment required to give a

good account of the play. The standard of

acting was very high, though I wonder how far Veronica Duffy as the Malone Road socialist, (playing the only role in which

high drama was conspicuously absent), fo

cussed the more youthful energies while

giving the production is powerful emo

tional centre. The only times when there was a perceptible slackening of the pace was when she was off-stage.

For all that, Joyriders is an exciting piece of theatre. Nothing has had its res

onance in Belfast since Martin Lynch's

early plays. Christina Reid has perhaps picked up his mantle. While this play deals with many themes that Martin has previ

ously tapped?unemployment, poor

housing, frustration with unfeeling bureaucracy?Reid handles her ideas with a freshness and confidence that has re

treated from his more recent work. In con

junction with a production that links song and music to economical set-changes and

intelligent use of properties, Joyriders provides an experience of theatre where

reflection follows an evening of spirited action. If you've never been to the theatre

before, Joyriders is the play to begin with, whatever your age.

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_Scene from 'Joyriders', a new play by Belfast born writer Christina Reid

Fortnight 5th May 1986 25

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