Tangent

Synopsis

Maths - how difficult can it be? Very - given the distractions students have to face: adolescence, love affairs, peers hell bent on disruption and teachers struggling to cope. Never mind instant messaging, firing cannons, make-up and flogging. Two 15 year olds - both struggling with an exam they have to pass. One, a girl at a failing school who wants to learn but can't - learning seems to be the last thing the school is set up to do. The other, a midshipman in Nelson's navy 200 years ealier. On board his warship he must learn to navigate and to do that he must learn his maths.

Our Review:

30 May 2012

It’s often a worry when a play begins by telling you something you learned at school. Tangent opens with one of the cast giving the dictionary definition of the word’s mathematical meaning. This sets the tone for what is to follow.

Two stories are told in alternating scenes. Both concern students who are keen on maths. Sam (Jolyon Westhorpe) is a Midshipman on a naval frigate bound for the Baltic to take on Napoleon’s fleet. He’s hoping for promotion for which he must demonstrate he’s on top of the current techniques of navigation. Chloe (Maisie Turpie) is the new girl in a present-day maths GCSE class, struggling to get herself a B grade in the upcoming exam.

Sam and Chloe are mocked, envied and distrusted by their peers and superiors and must subsequently prove themselves. Sam takes bearings with a sextant and makes complex trigonometric calculations to plot the ship’s position. Chloe learns formulae, calculates ...

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Latest User Review

Michael - 5 June 2012:

Very good show refreshing look at the interaction between different students and teachers well worth seeing...

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