Two childhood sweethearts, Freya (Kim Allan) and Michael (Daniel Cameron), have set out on a gap year travelling adventure to see the world before starting University and in doing so trying to patch up their broken romance. When they find themselves arrested and jailed in an unnamed country somewhere on the other side of the world, where are very much the foreigners and their perceived invincible Britishness has evaporated, a tense drama unfolds.
For the full 55 minutes of this new play’s duration, Drummond’ s tautly written script, that is riven with his trademark questioning and challenging, grips as the drama zig zags through an ever- changing moral maze yet still manages to be peppered with some comic lines at the start.
Jonathan Scott’s simple but highly effective set creates the scene of a bleak prison aided by clanking sounds of unseen gates being unlocked and locked as the lawyer makes her visits.
Whether the pair are no more than ‘naïve travellers’ who’ve made ‘an innocent mistake’ or their statements conceal more than they first reveal is in question throughout. The consideration of a plea bargain from a local defence lawyer Amelia (Nicole Cooper) brings to the surface the chasm of outlook between the nerdy, fact obsessed Michael and the moody Daddy’s girl Freya, who once were so close. The truth unravels slowly and their survival both as individuals and as a couple hinges on pacts that none of us would be comfortable facing as the thought of a firing squad in a nearby forest looms.
From leg twitching anxiety to arm folded moody defiance and floor thumping blind frustration, Kim Allan and Daniel Cameron use body language brilliantly to express the shifting emotions while Nicole Cooper is convincingly cool and firm as she negotiates a slippery terrain with the mercurial pair to establish the facts.
Rob Drummond continues to surprise and entertain with his singularly enquiring mind.
Tue 3 – Sat 7 Oct, 1pm; Fri 6 Oct, 7pm age recommend 14+