Advice For The Young At Heart (Plymouth)

There really is nothing much new under the sun or on the streets of Notting Hill.

Commissioned by Theatre Centre, BAFTA-award winning writer Roy Williams (Sucker Punch, Absolute Beginners) examines the concept of history repeating itself and analyses integrity in Advice For The Young At Heart.

Opening with Lucy Cullingford‘s beautifully choreographed set piece (which we later realise is the missing piece of the jigsaw), Williams’ intense 60-minute pacy play seamlessly blends 2011 and 1958 – two moments in time when London’s youth were rioting.

Street-wise mixed race teen Candice is carrying out orders from her thug of a boyfriend, who is hell bent on thrashing the living daylights out of a classmate – not because of his skin colour, but because he has the audacity to support a different football team.

She is the honeytrap to lure awkward Clint, her friend from childhood, to the deserted lock-ups to face his fate. But Clint is on a mission to thieve as much as the Notting Hill riots will allow.

And while she waits, Candice attempts to ignore her newly dead grandfather, whose ghost, dressed in fine 1950s "threads", is forced to re-live his shameful part in the 1958 warfare against "the blacks".

As the two worlds collide, themes repeat and chances of redemption are ignored by the weak and seized by the brave.

Alix Ross (mainly known for her dance but proving she has another strong string to her bow) is feisty as Candice, beautifully blending teenage egotism and inner angst, while Adrian Richards makes a superb professional theatre debut providing light relief as erstwhile Clint, all awkward gestures and exuberance.

Fellow talented newcomer Matt Bradley-Robinson is utterly believable as the Tony Curtis-combing Teddy Boy Sam torn between family loyalty and the woman he loves, and Joe Stamp (The Fall Of The Essex Boys) is nicely menacing as bully boy Kenny, inciting racial hatred and singling out his victims.

Emma Wee‘s set is extremely simple – a wall and a building – ideal for touring while Natalie Wilson‘s direction is on point.

A thought-provoking piece for teenagers who will recognise the rule of mobile phones and peer pressure (and understand the street speak), but also a salutary message for an older generation which all too quickly sits in judgement, having forgotten its own foibles and crimes.

– Karen Bussell