Bottle Universe

Synopsis

David wants to be sent away to this detention centre where they lock you in a room with a TV and bring you your food. Lauren has got an urgent appointment in the woods with a length of rope. Bottle Universe is a tale of an unlikely friendship; if they can save each other just maybe they can save themselves.

Our Review:

17 October 2005

Designer Bob Bailey has transformed the Bush Theatre’s small stage into a cluttered metallic rubbish dump for its production of Simon Burt’s Bottle Universe. The pipes and slats, bars and wires suggest a tale about some apocalyptic future but in fact Burt’s piece is very much about a dark present and despite the expressionistic promise of the design the piece itself is wholly naturalistic.

In it we meet David and Lauren, two teenagers who couldn’t be more different – he’s a tough lad with a difficult home life who’s been taken out of group classes completely, while she is top of the class (her parents are toying with the idea of sending her to ‘posh school’) and bullied mercilessly. He dreams of a room in a young offenders’ institute with a telly and someone who brings your meals, she of being normal.

These two characters, whose only common ground is their status as outsiders, develop an awkward and tender friendship which begins to sustain them. B...

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Latest User Review

193.133.226.4) - 18 October 2005:

Bottle Universe is a great night out! There are moments of extreme tension and emotion, yet the dialogue is also hilariously witty and well observed. The troubled teen characters and their teacher are buoyantly played by the three actors, and by the end of the play have really endeared themselves to the audience - despite all their quirks and colourful language. The Bush itself is a wonderful, intimate and down to earth space, with a pub underneath! What more could you want?...

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