Review: Drifting, Southwark Playhouse

Drifting tells the story of a directionless 26-year-old graduate living on the coast, burdened by family pressures, fear, and a longing to escape to the city, with a plot that represents the uncertainty faced by many young graduates. The play offers strong performances and staging, yet leaves much open to interpretation.

A ladder sits just off centre stage in a thrust layout. A young man (Trae Walsh) has a fraught conversation with his father (Toby Blatt) who is angry about money, work and life. His mother (Pheobe Woodbridge) is irritatingly compliant. The young man is 26: a graduate struggling to find any form of meaningful employment beyond stacking shelves. At home he tries to help his father, a man of no formal qualifications and little income, but he falters under the emotional and practical demands, made harder by his fear of climbing stairs. He carries a stepladder everywhere: a persistent symbol of his attempt to escape his circumstance.

He lives on the coast and on the beach he holds a conversation with a sylph like figure (Olivia McGrath) who challenges him, shifting between support and provocation. The mist ebbs and flows, often obscuring his view: a physical manifestation of his future away from the isolation of the coast, in a big city, alluring, but just out of reach.

The young man’s journey is representative of so many: a graduate who believed a degree would offer a way out, but who has struggled to find direction ever since leaving education. Five years on, he is still doing menial jobs, with no prospects – desperate to leave his home town to seek connection and fulfilment, but simultaneously paralysed with fear. Opportunities present themselves but always with an element of risk and danger.

This is a really interesting piece of writing that expects the audience to work for their entertainment. It is deliberately opaque, offering suggestions rather than concrete plot lines. The eight-member cast move in and off stage, either supporting the young man’s flight, or warning him of the dangers, whilst remaining observant in repose from the sidelines. All are nameless, characterised by their role only. There is an accomplished flow to the piece, which revels in the uncertainty of the young’s man future, born of a dichotomy of danger and opportunity. Much is left unsaid and an uncertain homecoming is marked with blood and injury, accompanied by pride and celebration. It is highly relevant to a generation of graduates who hoped that their qualifications would guarantee success and upward mobility, but are forced to continue to move on with their old lives whilst wishing for a new one. There are hints of mental health struggles, compounded by the isolation of life on the coast.

The acting from the female cast is particularly striking: nuanced, fluid, and physically expressive in ways that suit the script’s opacity. By contrast, much of the male acting feels one-dimensional, with emotion conveyed through rising volume rather than depth.

Staging and lighting are effective: a string of fairy lights and timber conjure a pier and the small stage within touching distance of the audience encourages an intimacy and mutual dependency. And yet: the deliberate vagueness in the script leaves many gaps for the audience to fill – perhaps a few too many. I love reaching forward as an audience member to connect the dots, but to encourage that reciprocity there does need to be a little more concrete explanation.

This is a production by Ardent Theatre Company, the founders inspired by their own experience of growing up on the South Coast. With slightly more explicit dialogue, these resonant themes could land even more fully.

Cast: Toby Batt,Olivia McGrath, Trae Walsh,Olivia Israel, Phoebe Woodbridge, Yarrow May Spillane, Amirah Abimbola Alabere,Lewis Allen

Written, directed and produced by Andrew Muir
Produced by Mark Sands
Set & Costume Design by Bethan Wall
Lighting Design by Rachel E Cleary

Drifting plays at Southwark Playhouse until Saturday 22 November