Anna Jordan’s Yen will make you laugh, but it will also make you squirm. You’ll feel the feelings of dread beginning to tighten in your chest as the show progresses, but you won’t be able to look away. You’re involved now.
Brothers Bobbie and Hench live together in a council estate flat. That’s ‘live’ in the basest sense of the word. They watch porn, play video games, drink and eat whatever Bobbie has managed to steal that day, and share the same t-shirt as it’s the only one they’ve got. They’ve stopped cleaning up after the dog, who is confined to one of the other rooms in the dingy, dirty little apartment. They’re better off without Maggie, their volatile, drug-addled mum. But she does have a habit of turning up and wreaking havoc.
Directed by Lucy Clements, this production from New Ghosts Theatre Company is compelling and hard-hitting. It’s a bleak exploration of addiction, family, love, sex and loss of innocence, and Clements keeps us gripped throughout.
Bobbie, the younger brother, is played by Jeremi Campese with fantastic energy. This does come off a little forced and abrupt at first, but he does settle down and have some lovely moments of physical comedy throughout. Campese challenges us to care about Bobbie, even when we think we can’t, or shouldn’t.
Playing older brother Hench is Ryan Hodson, who brings a quiet confidence to the role. He fills out Hench with a complex concoction of pubescent rage and childlike innocence. Opposite Meg Clarke as next-door-neighbour Jenny, the two have a gorgeous energy and connection. Clarke is magnetic and delivers a beautifully nuanced performance.
Difficulties grappling with the accents do make the production jarring at times, but Jordan’s script is compelling enough to propel us back into the story.
Set & costumes by Ester Karuso-Thurn are simple but effective, evoking an appropriate sense of poverty and neglect. Sound design by Chrysoulla Markoulli and lights by Louise Mason both offer further depth and complexity, and keep the show moving.
This is a polished production. The script is a powerhouse, and Clements’ skilled directorial hand allows it to shine. It’s a gritty, gripping, hard-hitting piece of theatre delivered with sincerity and truth. Can’t really ask for much more.
Playing at the Kings Cross Theatre until 13 October.
Alana Kaye – Theatre Now
