Monday, November 9, 2020

ODD ONE OUT (Future Voices/Southwark Playhouse)

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXxHealWI8

Available until: Unknown

It’s horrible being a teenager sometimes. I should know. I still feel like a teenager in my head. But some people have more than just the normal teen problems.

I’m sure Emily, played by Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness, would absolutely love it if she had nothing to worry about beyond prom dresses and boyfriends. That’s all her friends seem to think about and they don’t understand why she’s so moody.

Emily is still at school. She also works as a hairdresser. She looks after her younger brother and sister. She cleans the house and does the chores. She lives with her mum (Cat Simmonds) and there’s no mention of a dad, so it’s reasonable for her to help out… isn’t it?

Odd One Out is written by Creshia Lindo. The story could have filled a full-length play, but Creshia has compressed it into nine minutes in a way that doesn’t seem rushed. Emily is a great character whom I liked instantly and although it’s a sad story, Creshia still finds opportunities to show a flair for comedy, without derailing or distracting from the main story.

There’s also a wonderful special effect and there’s a brilliant ending which comes as a shock, but when it happens, you realise it has been foreshadowed. Things that seem to happen out of nowhere actually don’t – it’s just that we don’t know what led up to it. So in a story, you want to move towards something without making it obvious what you’re moving towards. Creshia has done this really cleverly. I hope that doesn’t sound patronising. It’s not meant to be. It’s actually something I hadn’t fully realised till I watched this play.

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