When Gina Moxley’s play was first staged almost 30 years ago by Rough Magic, it was a truthful and shocking account of 1970s teenage life. Seeing it again now, in this beguiling Livin’ Dred revival, it has become a fascinating piece of social history.
owboy-obsessed Dan spends his day filling notebooks with the registration numbers of cars that pass the gate. Bored and precocious Cactus is always looking for trouble. She furtively reads novels with her soft-hearted friend Dolores in search of sexy bits. Dolores’ older sister Ber is dating cranky unemployed Noel, and they have “gone all the way”; Ber fears she is pregnant but doesn’t believe it’s possible as they only did it “standing up”. The romance between Ber and Noel excites Cactus’s sexual curiosity and leads her to some experimentation of her own. Dan’s vulnerability — he has a mental age of a younger child — leaves him exposed to exploitation. The action builds to a shocking climax.
Aaron Monaghan directs with great feeling and sensitivity — you can see the ghosts of all the troubled youths he has performed as an actor during his early career. Venetia Bowe as Cactus creates an uncanny impression of both guilt and innocence. David Rawle as Dan fully inhabits this vulnerable boy. Ber, played by Meadhbh Maxwell, brings poignant spirit to this depressed Cork countryside with her red club heels, her tossed blonde locks and her low-key courage. Eoghan Collins’ anger as Noel neatly captures the pain of this zero-opportunities life. Chloe O’Reilly portrays the moral weakness of the spineless sidekick.
A moss-covered telephone box provides a focal point in designer Naomi Faughan’s realistic roadside set; a monument to times past balanced by a phallic war memorial on the other side of the stage.
This portrait of Irish youth culture of the 1970s is bleak — sexual ignorance combined with pure boredom. When we consider how full teenagers’ lives are today, and we hark nostalgically back to a time when 14-year-olds free-ranged around the countryside with plenty of time on their hands, this dark play is a reminder that the fun and games weren’t all fun and games.
Tour:
Mullingar Arts Centre; Feb 7
The Everyman Cork; Feb 8 & 9
Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda; Feb 11
Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge; Feb 15
An Grianán, Letterkenny; Feb 17
Backstage Theatre, Longford; Feb 18
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