The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return at Summerhall – Edinburgh Fringe Review

Plays set in Luton are a rare commodity, but Chalk Line Theatre is based there and wants to celebrate the fact. Its new production, The Chaos That Has Been and Will No Doubt Return, is full of affection for the place – as well as clear-eyed apprehension at the problems it is facing.

Written by company founder Sam Edmunds and imaginatively directed by him and Vikesh Godhwani, it has the same swagger and brio as its heroes – two likely lads on the search for a great night out. Best mates from a school that sends the bad kids on a trip when Ofsted inspectors are coming, they’re played with explosive energy by Olatunji Ayofe and Elan Butler, with Amaia Naima Aguinaga brilliantly playing all the other roles.

Jess Tucker Boyd’s lively movement direction sends them bouncing and dancing around the space delineated by Rob Miles’s three brick-covered boxes. But behind the lively recreation of two boys swigging gin and trying to have a good time, there’s serious intent.

Edmunds paints a vivid picture of the limiting factors on the lives of working-class men, the grinding sense of debt that is passed down from generation to generation, the violence they encounter and have to live with on the street. Butler’s character is determined to escape, to shape a better life for himself and pay back his mother for all her sacrifice. Ayofe’s character, who also narrates, stands “on the precipice of change”, doubting his ability to make anything of himself.

The writing is full of vivid observations of the way people “walk like they’re being held back”. There’s one resonant scene when, after an aggressive encounter they have had to walk away from, the boys throw stones into water to calm themselves down. In another, full of wonder, the narrator swoops in for a kiss with the girl he fancies and remarks “The beauty of this moment should be held on to.”

That resilient sense of optimism about people and their capacity to live well fills the play; an acknowledgement that though Luton has its economic struggles, it is also a community where different races and creeds come together to face and overcome the same difficulties. In this spirit, the ending veers towards tragedy, and then swerves away, offering a buoyant message of hope. It’s exhilarating.