The Almeida Theatre might not strike you as the most youth-friendly of venues. Its work under the artistic directorship of Michael Attenborough sees top-quality plays performed by some of the finest actors, continually high production values (despite its recent cut of funding from Arts Council England), with little ‘youth’ involved. However bubbling under this body of work comes an extensive participation programme under the Almeida Projects banner, including the Young Friends of Almeida scheme which has worked with playwright John Donnelly to create Encourage The Others as part of the Almeida Festival. Never judge a book by its cover, and never judge a theatre by its main house plays alone.

Encourage The Others is a lyrical piece, where the cast play a slightly mirrored and warped version of themselves on the Almeida stage – which has distinctive nods towards Peter Handke’s 1966 play Offending the Audience. They are our ‘representatives’, who have been elected to represent us (the audience) for the evening. Encourage The Others is a dark comedic piece, that embraces the nature of being young and attempting to live within a world of constant unrest. We are, as the audience, safe within the confides of the Almeida Theatre we are told. We are not to worry about the strange happenings beyond the walls – perhaps we saw a car on fire? – perhaps we noticed the behaviour of others? – was it odd, different? Fear not, we are told, we are safe with them.

Whilst the cast, whose lines interject over each other and continually reference that this is in fact a play and we are just an audience, offer the audience a sense of safety there is continually this dark, sinister tone to their voices, to the looks and playfulness they present. Are we really safe? Do we trust these young people to guide us through this play? Donnelly does a fine job of capturing a sense of what adults must feel like when presented with a group of young people (here I am tempted to say ‘a gang of youths’), and in turn attempts to show that this is not true (or is it?).

As Encourage The Others begins to unravel upon the stage, the words of the performers seem to glide and glimmer towards us, we become captivated by their frankness, their sense of adventure, and this undeniable tense atmosphere. We are tested too as audiences members when the lights are suddenly cut, and a cacophony of sounds erupt. When the lights flicker on, the cast are fewer now. Where are the others?

Gradually Donnelly builds a wonderful mixture of tense atmosphere and chaos, whilst continually proving his words to sit characteristically well with the Young Friends of Almeida performers. There is a brilliant convention breaking as the cast perform a song from Glee – it works oddly within the distorted mirror image of the youth led world Donnelly portrays.

As a whole Encourage The Others is an immensely enjoyable production. Not only has Donnelly been able to capture the essence of being young, but within this he weaves a story that relies just as much on Lu Kemp’s superb direction to bring out the atmospheric undertones of the script as it does on the talents of these young performers. They show commitment, wit, and, above all, they present a show worthy of them taking the Almeida’s stage, just like the many of wonderful older actors who have done so before them.