Kingfisher Blue

Synopsis

Ally and Elvis are cleaning out a dead man's flat, when they get an idea that just might save their bacon. Cooper has big plans for the karaoke bar, and Denny is up to his neck in toilets. As all four men do their best to eke out a living, they find themselves drawn into a downward spiral; soon one boy is dead, and no one will ever be the same again. Kingfisher Blue is a story of stuffed weasels, the reality of everyday life and dreams of escape.

Our Review:

23 May 2005

There’s a hierarchy on the estate. At the bottom of the food chain is Ally, a 14-year-old boy who’s the UK equivalent of a latch-key kid. He can’t go home before his dad gets in from the pub and he has to wait until a good hour after so dad’s safely passed out. A notch above is Elvis. He’s come good, got a place in a hostel, a job as a bin man a couple of nights a week, and now is on an apprenticeship, with a local plumber, Denny.

Denny is straight down the line, seems happy where he is but it’s Cooper, a friend of Denny’s late father’s, who reminds him of his fall from grace when he planned to leave the Peckham enclave for a life with a band in Manchester. He boasted about it to the whole estate but never left, and Cooper won’t let him forget it.

Such is the desolate world of Lin Coghlan’s new play at the Bush, Kingfisher Blue. But the point seems to be, as one character says, that "you deserve better than this". They all do as, contrary to first ...

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