I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I love pub theatres. There is something inherently butterfly inducing about walking through a pub full of beer drenched football fans, up a staircase next to the bogs, treading a well-trodden carpet through the stale, vinegary mist of the public facilities and into a black box of possibility. I am in to their authentically blank spaces and unpolished rawness. The pub theatre is an empty black space, ready and willing for theatre-makers to stomp all over, rise-up and make their mark, no holes barred, no boundaries, no traditions. Of course, the flipside of freedom, as ever, is that it can be as bad as it is good. Never mind that, though, the Old Red Lion has been well and truly leading the way for the pub theatre scene (for the last eighteen months anyway).

The Old Red Lion latest offering, Correspondence by Lucinda Burnett, promises to continue this reputation valiantly. It’s 2011, the front pages are taken over by the lavishness of the Royal Wedding. Somewhere, hidden in the centre pages, The Syrian uprising appears, documenting Asad’s growing brutality, beheadings; torture; siege. Correspondence shows us two teenagers connected by their Xboxes and headsets. Ben Loveall (Joe Attewell) is hyper-intelligent, bipolar and displaced in Stockport and Jibreel Zuman (Ali Ariaie) in Syria. That’s right, Syria, bold move, right? Syria, the land so far away that just keeps on getting closer. Syria with its perpetual connotations of ISIS, refugees and, in both instances, the brutal horror facing humanity. It is a meaty premise: difficult and important to tackle.

Two boys, same age, different worlds. One struggling with his mental health: trying to stop his inside breaking out. The other struggling with the demise of his world: trying to stop the outside breaking in. Both struggling to be normal before they are fully-grown. It’s almost perfect. Attewell’s performance is a natural portrayal of a boy falling apart unnoticeably. He is cast impeccably; unassuming and flawless. Similarly, Ariaie is completely understated in his performance, focussing far more on his identity as a teenager than his socio-political position. Making his surroundings all the more powerful.

In this vein, Blythe Stewart’s direction is stripped back, fluid and simple. Centred around a set that consists of a large, modern white circle that looks like an ultra cool speaker but represents Ben’s world. It is claustrophobic; an all encompassing surround sound. Jibeel sits on the floor before him, controller in hand. Subservient, yes, but visually impactful. The other characters, Ben’s divorced parents (Joanna Croll and Mark Extance) and school friend/bully (Jill McAusland) remain on stage, facing the walls until they are needed.

The problem is, they aren’t needed. At all. In fact, their presence dilutes the narrative. This isn’t a problem with any of their performances, this is an issue in the writing. Defined perfectly in the company’s tagline for Correspondence: ‘A bittersweet coming-of-age story …’ (oh, another one of them) ‘… about fledging friendships …’ (really, is that the first thing it’s about?) ‘… mental health and …’ (AND, last but by no means least) ‘… a Syrian rescue mission’. I mean, in what world is a Syrian rescue mission the last on a list of events? You can’t just whack Syria into a narrative as an after thought and hope for the best. Secondly, there is no rescue mission. There is no substance whatsoever to the Syria element of the story. The bittersweet coming of age card is as overplayed as it is tautologous and could do without a mention. Correspondence is really about mental health. How Ben’s mental health affects the way he sees the world and behaves within it. And that’s fine, but Syria isn’t a bi-product by anyone’s standards. What’s more, the theme of mental health could be more effectively explored with just those two actors, their headsets and each being a voice in the other’s head. Instead of exploration of the key themes more situations are added, detracting substance with each slice.

Correspondence has an awful lot of potential. Potential that is combined with a talented cast, great direction and enviable venue. Those three attributes are to blame for showing up the slightly lacklustre script.

 

Correspondence is playing Old Red Lion until 2 April. For more information and tickets, see the Old Red Lion website

Photo: Richard Lakos