Razing Eddie

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Horizon Arts—Britain’s "hottest young theatre group," according to the BBC—certainly deal with a lot of fiery themes in Razing Eddie, a new play written and directed by the company’s Phillip Stokes, which combines social realism with ghosts in a sort of Gothic kitchen sink drama.

Razing Eddie does not provide a laugh a minute. It’s the story of former football thug Eddie (played with tremendous brooding menace by Lee Bainbridge) who, on his release from jail, seeks out his ex-girlfriend Shauna (a heart-breakingly vulnerable performance from Chloe Mylonas) and is forced to confront his past misdeeds in the most unexpected of ways.

Stokes' script is weighed down by a an overbearing worthyness; the nagging suspicion that they're trying a bit too hard to be ‘relevant’ with Northern youth culture. Perhaps it is due to its plethora of hard-hitting themes that the play feels relentlessly one note. It begins at emotional breaking point, continues at emotional breaking point and ends on numerous emotional breaking points. This is a shame because a lot of the writing, taken on a scene by scene basis, is truly excellent.

The play is performed with oodles of conviction by its young cast, and although Razing Eddie would benefit from more restraint all round, it still represents an admirable achievement for a youth theatre company.