Bad Boy Eddie

“The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day,” wrote John Milton. And so this rings true for young Eddie O’Birdy, whose alcoholic mother and adulterous father strip him of the innocence he should have had. Growing up in an empty home, at once vacant, yet full of despair, Eddie fights for love in a family that seems unaware—or perhaps just unwilling—to reciprocate.

Scott Kyle is enthralling in the title role, moving from neglected child to petulant pre-teen with ease. The crumbling relationship between him and his mother, played adroitly by Mary Gapinski, portray the fragments of this broken home with brittle, brutal honesty.

This adaptation from Finnish production company Kajaani Town Theatre for this Glaswegian troupe works, but the story feels far too familiar: the cheating father, cruel stepmother and idolised new half-siblings are characters we have seen too many times before to strike as original. It lacks in nuance, with little distinguishing it from the thousands of similar tales that have gone before.

There are also a number of peculiar scenes in which one actress doubles up as the anthropomorphised representation of the dark forces at play in the story, which seems to undermine the play’s own writing.

Over-simplicity is the show’s main snag, and the dialogue misses an opportunity to explore anything in more than the most basic of ways. This stops Bad Boy Eddie from reaching its full dramatic potential; something of an injustice given the skill of its cast.