Boys[author-post-rating] (3/5 stars)

The Guardian called Ella Hickson the voice of our generation, and if that’s true, Boys suggests that we are not a very happy one. Set in a student flat in the dead days between results and graduation, Hickson paints a picture of a group of young people paradoxically desperate to cling to their childhood and enjoy their incipient adulthood all at once. They want fun without consequences; they want Disney films, but with a side-order of Ecstasy. Unfortunately for them, the trappings of adulthood are coming whether they like it or not.

Hickson’s stroke of genius is in creating a friendship group more real and more complicated than simply ‘university friends’. For instance, only two of the housemates were actually students; the other bedrooms are taken by their boisterous, sad-eyed drug dealer, and a young violin virtuoso who loathes his gift. This makes for a far more nuanced and less ‘laddy’ show than one might imagine from the title.

In their synopsis, No Prophet and Close Up theatre companies seem to trade on having a Skins cast member in the mix, and in a play that is by and for young people, this smacks of celebrity casting. It isn’t. Will Merrick absolutely shines as Benny – who’s succeeded academically so far but is terrified of what comes next – turning in an understated performance awash with vulnerability, that carries the show without ever overpowering its ensemble mix.

Merrick gets able support from a generally strong cast, with Alex Carden’s violinist protégé Cam and Wesley Lineham’s Timp particularly deserving of a mention. Lineham slowly peels away Timp’s desperate, riotous hedonism, always the first to start a party and the last to leave it, until we see the sadness at its core. The young alcoholic who hides his drinking beneath a veneer of endless fun and games is a curious modern phenomenon, astutely picked up on by Hickson. At their final party, Timp is dressed as Peter Pan – the boy who refuses to grow up – which works perfectly, and would work for almost any of the characters.

It’s not a perfect production, or a perfect play. Some of the cast struggle to make themselves heard, things occasionally slip into melodrama and some of the scene changes are clunky and slow when they most need to be fast. But it is an eminently watchable and enjoyable production, with things to say about the experience of being young that still deserve to be said.

Boys can be seen at 21.00 at C Aquila, every day until 26 August. For more information and tickets, visit the Edinburgh Fringe website.