Anoesis, a sort-of immersive piece from young theatre company Junction 25, is appearing at the Fringe this year as part of the Made in Scotland showcase.
This is particularly relevant since the show gives these young people the opportunity to articulate their feelings about the current Scottish school system and the various ways in which it can fail to connect with the kids it needs to.
There’s much to admire about this adventurous piece. The young company are earnest and focused about the issues at hand, the ensemble work is lovely and there is some good interaction between the cast and some audience members.
The start is promising, with the audience being added to the class register, given name tags and seated in a hall with an exam paper and pencil. A roll call, snippets of dialogue and the beginning of the examination effectively creates the familiar, monotonous classroom feeling which quickly draws a giggly and nervous audience into its stifling, didactic atmosphere.
Although there are a few stand out moments within the show, overall it feels like the promising set up isn’t quite followed through.
The evolution of the exam paper scenes is interesting as are the final monologues about how certain members of the cast would prefer to be taught, but the rest still seems a little underdeveloped with rather too much emphasis on repetitive shouting and running across furniture for my taste.
– Lucy Danser
Anoesis continues at Summerhall until 25 August
