THEATRE

‘The Boy James’ is based around the author of Peter Pan, J.M Barrie and contains many ambiguities surrounding the interactions between the author and his younger self. The audience are invited into the cosy room by the excitable Jethro Compton as the protagonist playing a boy and seated in the certainly atmospheric performance space.

Already intimately spaced within the room, we are made to hold hands and introduce ourselves to a neighbour and tell one another of an adventure, as if you’ve walked into a bizarre speed dating scenario on your first day at school. It certainly plays with breaking  audience conventions and tensions, but is somewhat awkwardly orchestrated. When you are painfully reminded of the inhibitions of adulthood and left with the mind blank that comes from being put on the spot to tell someone something interesting about yourself on the topic of being adventurous, perhaps they should leave this responsibility on themselves, as they capture the sense of child’s play with ease. It is a nice idea but I preferred their simpler device of engaging the audience in the act of hiding from the character James by closing and covering their eyes. This moment is the first introduction to the character and the audience experience it blind. As the scene is played out and you listen to James speak for the first time, the piece is opened up to utilising the senses and the temptation to peek sparks immediate curiosity.

Having seen both ‘Outland’ and ‘The Boy James’ it is clear how Belt Up can transform within their shabby chic room with an explosion of tales full of excitement and capturing such innocence that they are not afraid to break. Although the narrative seems weak in places with less of a storyline than an experience of performance, ‘The Boy James’ is really well paced. They maintain a sense of adventure and manage to orientate the audience against scepticism, even if reluctantly because they place this attitude at the hands of one of the characters instead, which instantly and cleverly encourages the audience to pick sides. They use this technique in both ‘The Boy James’ and ‘Outland’ and although there are many crossovers in style and technique, their stories are different experiences but equally engaging. They also do not shy away from unearthing flawed characters and sinister streaks. Lulled into a false sense of security by Compton’s performance as the boy, the shows dark twists lead to uncomfortable scenes of sexual abuse and a heart-breaking final sequence which asks the audience to abandon a helpless boy.

It’s like Belt Up rewrite children’s classic literature, so that Peter Pan would take Mr and Mrs Darling to Neverland instead of Wendy and the other children. Like Peter Pan’s inability to grow up, this theme is well ingrained in the company’s work and governs the journeys and attitudes of the characters. But although the show makes a compelling case for believing in the innocence of the characters, It isn’t entirely clear who the anonymous girl is, or what she is supposed to represent so that when she spirals recklessly into precociousness and rapes the vulnerable boy James, Peter Pan seems to have flown a long way away and the escapism vanishes.

AM