The premise behind Seventeen was simple and intriguing. It was a play about seventeen year olds where all the actors were seniors. That was enough for me to find £30 for Circle Seat A19, a familiar part of the theatre for me.
Also familiar were the veggie burger and beer that I had in the Lyric Cafe beforehand. Lyric is definitely one of those theatres that gets front of house right and that makes a big difference to the evening and encourages me to go more often.
The children congregated in the playground after school, and this was their last day at school ever. A time to reflect and a time to look forward.
What followed was, as far as I can recall of being that age, what seemed like natural teenage banter about loves, relationships and jobs. The conversations flew all over the place due to their short attention spans and different priorities. It was serious, coarse, tender, funny and trivial. And all engaging.
Seventeen was quick paced as the children moved in an out of the playground. Small groups formed and broke up and the mood and the subjects of their discussions changed as they did so. It was cleverly done and kept the play lively and interesting at all times.
The incongruous age of the actors was not an impediment to the story telling and I think that their experience as actors helped it. Using old actors may have been done as a gimmick or to make a point about ageism but, whatever the reason, it worked.
Seventeen was a lovely piece of theatre.
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