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A beautifully crafted script that poetically explores emotional resilience and the healing power of dreams and creativity.Summary
Rating
Good
The King of Broken Things, from South African company Theatresmiths, comes to Riverside Studios this winter. It’s a one hour tale in which we meet a young boy struggling with life. Bullied by other children, with a mother and father who have acrimoniously split up, he is also economically disadvantaged; things are really difficult for him. Rather than go under, he fixes things, reinventing them into new, better forms, and in doing so he attempts to fix himself emotionally, becoming stronger in the process. It’s a message of self-belief, and that it’s OK to not be OK.
The story is challenging, digging deep into what it is to stay strong when your world is fractured and you yourself feel broken, and Michael Taylor-Broderick’s script is beautifully written. It lyrically and poetically explores ways in which the boy’s issues can be articulated, finding coping mechanisms to get through the hard times and talking through some difficult topics. The idea of kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken objects with gold, is used beautifully to describe his attitude to life. Indeed, one of the most affective lines, revealing the internal damage the boy has suffered, is when he reports of his dad telling him he must be gold through and through. Ouch – heartbreaking!
The workshop setting is a veritable junkyard of objects, which the boy uses to demonstrate his imaginative strength, proving the intelligence, and indeed the individual specialness, that others don’t see. It’s a jigsaw of pieces, quietly being glued together as the action progresses, with the ‘gold’ revealed in an impressive ending that underscores the healing power of dreams.
It’s always difficult to have an adult perform a child. A thirty-something Cara Roberts is fully invested in the role, every last inch of her being physically encompassing the boy she imagines, without dropping from character for a second. And it’s a challenging character, intense and on edge throughout the entire performance. He swings from dynamic, childlike excitement, running across the stage, to the poignant reflection of a damaged, vulnerable individual: she does a great job performing this. For me, the age of the child is never established. Physically, I would have placed him at around seven years old, but I suspect he was intended to be older, with his language quite complex for a very young boy. Whatever the case, it wasn’t quite clear and I found the facial expressions in particular more theatrically contrived than convincing.
I’m also not quite sure who the intended audience for the show is. Except for the close, it’s a dramatically understated piece, relying heavily on lengthy storytelling, which is well done but would be quite an ask for a child audience (when I saw it there were no children in attendance). It feels to me more like a piece for adults to explore a child as imagined by an adult. There are playful moments certainly, particularly as the boy demonstrates how his resilience builds positive creativity, but at times it verges on the sentimental, which takes the edge off the dramatic reality.
However, if you’re up for a bit of an emotional rollercoaster this Christmas The King of Broken Things is a heartfelt show, beautifully and incisively written with an uplifting, hopeful conclusion that fits the season perfectly.
Performed by: Cara Roberts
Written and directed by: Michael Taylor-Broderick
Design by: Bryan Hiles, Michael Taylor-Broderick and Darren Peens
A Theatresmiths Production, presented by ASSITEJ South Africa.
The King of Broken Things is aimed at ages 10+ and runs at Riverside Studios until Saturday 4 January. Further information and booking details can be found here.
