Review: Overheard in a Tower Block, Little Angel Theatre

There’s a lot to like in Overheard in a Tower Blockat Little Angel Theatre Studios, an adaptation of Joseph Coelho’s poetry anthology by the same name. The play tells the tale of a young boy whose life is already difficult but seems to go even more wrong after he throws a stone at a set of local statues known as the three witches. Suddenly he’s in trouble at school and his mum and dad are arguing: dad’s planning to move out. He needs to fix things.

It’s refreshing to hear a story about life on an estate, with urban nature described; where and how to look for it. The poetic language surrounding the boy’s home is wonderfully evocative, creating a space where he can imagine his difficult life differently: tower blocks become living entities and epic battles take place. However, it took me a little while to get into the show. The adaptation is quite wordy and at times feels as if it’s just ‘reading out loud’. But rather than a poetry reading, we’re here for a stage production, so there could perhaps be more done with the visuals to emphasise the positive change in world view as the unhappy boy’s vivid imagination reinvents it. There is some nice colour work in the lighting using a background screen and strips in the tower blocks, but it could go bigger to help create shifts in atmosphere and add texture to the performance, perhaps giving movement and colour across the stage space itself, instead of largely statically at the back, and focussing in on the poetic deliveries.

It’s certainly a story that embraces ideas of imagination, including themes of mythology. In the context of a visibly grey, gritty estate there’s then some work to do to make the magic happen; but when it does, it’s delightful and feels bold and adventurous. There are some lovely images created using shapes projected with a torch and shadow puppetry, and then latterly the witch in the pond brings magic and excitement to the stage that really lifts the show, using a beautiful puppet (by designers Oliver Hymans & Dan Southwell).

The audience today enjoyed seeing puppets that use materials reflecting the characters, including a teacher with pointy pencils for hair and an artist made from an easel. They also laughed out loud at the interaction between the two friends, performed by Elliott Bornemann and Clarke Joseph-Edwards. Bornemann plays the boy with a cheery playfulness combined with understated sadness, which is easy to sympathise with. It’s a little hard to place the age of the character, but he comes across as young. The age range of the show is 7+ and in combination with the poetic language of the script that’s then probably about right for children who are capable of listening in without too much effort. The pair certainly keep the energy levels constant throughout, with Joseph-Edwards given plenty to do with puppeteering. The characters themselves occasionally feel a little flat, which is perhaps to do with the wordiness of the script, and the role of the bully in particular is rather underdeveloped and one note – a shrill one!

There are a number of themes at work including arguments with friends, parents splitting up, bullying, and the oppression of life in an urban environment. However, the closing message is a reassuring one: that change is OK and makes you what you are. So when we leave the estate it’s in a positive state of mind. This is a show also full of promise, that feels like it has some room to grow, and with potential to make visible more of the magic we are able to glimpse within it.

Written by Joseph Coelho
Directed by Samantha Lane
Directing Assistant Katherine Haw
Designed by Oliver Hymans & Dan Southwell
Lighting Design by Sherry Coenen
Associate Lighting Designer Ariane Nixon
Music Composed & Sound Designed by Ian Oakley

Overheard in a Tower Block is aimed at ages 7+ and runs at Little Angel Theatre Studios until Sunday 27 July.