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Burying Your Brother In The Pavement

Venue: Theatre Royal
Date Reviewed: 11th May, 2008

Burying Your Brother in the Pavement is part of the National Theatre New Connections season, which enables local amateur actors from schools around the region to showcase their talents – in this case as singers – as well as actors.

On this occasion all the actors were from the Shotton Hall Theatre School with ages ranging between twelve and eighteen.

Penned by writer Jack Thorne, of Channel 4 teen smash-hit Skins, Burying Your Brother in the Pavement focuses on the character of Tom and his struggle to cope with life in the aftermath of his brother Luke’s brutal murder.  The brothers were  never close and in an attempt to gain closure, he comes up with the idea to bury his brother right under the pavement in the spot where he was killed.

In Tom’s attempts to bury his brother, he interacts with a variety of people such as Police Officers, Undertakers, Tramps, Ghosts and Planning Officials – not all in that order – which in small doses enables him to reach a satisfactory conclusion to dealing with his remorse and guilt. 

The performers were all excellent, throughout the entire one hour running time of the play, especially considering that none of them have any formal training and all seemed incredibly passionate in the deliverance of their lines, no matter how big or small their roles were.

A nice touch is that some of the scenes were set to the backing music of chart topping bands Basement Jaxx, Gorillaz and The Eels, which helps evoke feelings of sympathy for Tom’s plight from the audience.   

The direction of the play is fast moving and although the sets are minimalistic, they are certainly very appropriate for the tone of the play.  

The singing as well as dancing, adds an innovative dynamic to what is essentially a very unique and engaging stage version of Skins, which is likely to appeal to theatre-goers of all ages, not just teenagers.   

Chris Conway

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