Gotcha

As London has recently experienced its most vociferous teenage riots in living memory, with students from all backgrounds occupying banks, offices and educational establishments, it is thrilling to watch Barrie Keeffe’s fierce drama of an earlier occupation.

Gotcha depicts a protest movement of one, of a solitary figure exhausted by his own anonymity within a system which denies him the opportunity of advancement or development. Though the specifics of the anonymous protagonist’s plight may have changed, the impotent rage which Keeffe’s protagonist transforms into violent rebellion continues to smoulder.

When Jake Roche’s disenfranchised Kid catches two of his teachers in a compromising position, he uses a combination of cunning and cruel violence to force them into an understanding of his plight. Poppy Burton-Morgan directs a taut production, which refuses to shirk from the multiple moral dilemmas raised by the Kid’s actions. Already holding an established reputation for excellent work on more impressionistic productions of Lorca, Pirandello and earlier European drama, it is exciting to see Burton-Morgan tackle a modern naturalistic play with such detail and skill.

Similar acclaim goes to Olivia Altaras for her effective set design, appropriately claustrophobic and impressively redolent of sickly school stockrooms. Finally, and most significantly, Roche’s stage debut reveals him as a considerable talent. Enthralling, occasionally hilarious and always moving: his performance alone would be reason to book enough to book a ticket.

– Stewart Pringle