Review: Boyhood, The Pleasance

J is 17, lives in south-west London and is facing up to the fact that he’s about to become a dad rather sooner than he’d anticipated. Hardly more than a boy himself, how will he grow up quickly enough to become the man he wants to be for his girlfriend and their unborn child?

Attic Theatre Company’s Boyhood is a raw, spirited and often tough watch, but one with real heart. Framed by Caitlin Mawhinney’s clever, stylised design – a metallic world of hanging chain-link drapes, metal bars, half-benches and streetlights – and Joseph Thomas’s stark, fragmented lighting, we first meet J (Dia Peters) sitting on a swing in the play zone of Bygrove Park. He stares questioningly at the toddlers and young children, reluctant to give up his favourite place to sit, think and watch the world go by, despite the protesting mums. His gentle rocking becomes a striking metaphor: can he shake off the comforts and uncertainties of boyhood and become the man he needs to be? J’s life has been shaped by poor mental health, limited opportunities, a fractured family and too few reliable male role models. You desperately want him to make the right choices, but there’s an uncomfortable sense that things may not turn out as he hopes.

Writer Conor Hunt developed the script with more than 70 young men, many with lived experience of the social issues explored. The Boyhood Collective – five young men aged 16–25, formed through these development workshops – have also contributed to rehearsals. That investment in young people’s voices brings an important honesty to the piece, even if the writing itself can sometimes feel unclear and dramatically confusing. At points, the emotional turmoil and unfolding tragedy are difficult to follow, leaving the music to do much of the storytelling.

And what music! Award-winning hip-hop theatre-maker Conrad Murray provides a live soundtrack that is a genuine masterclass in theatricality. Rap, beatboxing, sampling, looping and beautiful balladic songs, sometimes with a hint of Irish folk, create a rich, propulsive soundscape. The looped ‘What Am I Thinking?’ is a particular highlight: chilling, clever and emotionally resonant. 

Holding it all together is the quite brilliant Kate Donnachie, who plays virtually everyone else in J’s life. She shifts effortlessly between his swaggering mates, his emotionally complicated Dad and Al, his girlfriend, moving from giddy anticipation about their baby to devastating grief following her miscarriage at six months. The scene in which J’s Dad admits his own inadequacies as a father and tells his son he loves him is deeply affecting. But it’s Al’s later confrontation with J that really stops the room: her explanation of how painful the loss has been, and how the baby looked just like J, is delivered with such rawness that the audience is held in silence. Donnachie manages all this while rapping, singing, looping and creating the show’s live sound. Quite some feat.

At 70 minutes, Boyhood packs in a lot, and its theatrical craft and performances often carry it through moments when the writing falters. Yet its subject feels urgent. At a time when toxic misogyny, damaging stereotypes and narrow ideas of masculinity shape how young men are perceived and how they see themselves, this is an important story to tell. J’s journey from boyhood to adulthood is messy, painful and far from resolved, but the play insists that there is hope beyond the challenges of adolescence. Boyhood opens up a conversation worth having – with young men, parents, teachers and anyone who wants them to find a better way forward.

Written by Conor Hunt
Music by Conrad Murray
Directed by Tom Bellerby
Associate Director (Attic): Jen Davis
Set/Costume Design by Caitlin Mawhinney
Lighting design by Joseph Thomas at STUDIO JET
Stage Manager: su guzey
Creative Engagement Producer: Milly Roberts
Boyhood Collective: Victor Daniels, Ben Lonergan, Kayin Pearce, Michael Sookhan, Lewis Stevens

Boyhood plays at The Pleasance until Saturday 31 October.