Rites: A Children's Tragedy

Young Pleasance captures the mayfly brevity of childhood and the bewildering impulses of adolescence in this hauntingly evocative show. It’s adapted from German playwright Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play Spring Awakening, famously turned into a Broadway musical in 2006.

Co-creators Jo Billington and Tim Norton have worked with their young cast to weave a spellbinding web of snatched moments from Wedekind’s tale of teenage school boys and girls, blindly grasping at adulthood as their burgeoning sexuality leads to confusion, rape, pregnancy and suicide.

The production’s buttoned-up uniforms and crisp white pinafores feed into a dream-like atmosphere of nineteenth-century repression, heightened by mournful lighting and baroque strings. Between scenes, the cast dance and break away from each other in fluidly choreographed yearning.

The script succeeds in finding the humour of puberty while foregrounding Wedekind’s anger at an emotionally sterile adult world in which moral condemnation hides hypocrisy and children are left to flounder in ignorance by those entrusted with their care.

Alex Maxwell as Melchior and Winnie Guy as Wendla emanate confusion and shame as their characters’ tentative touches end in a shocking assault; and as sweaty-palmed, bookish schoolboy Morritz, Harry Kingdon is responsible for some of the play’s funniest and saddest moments.

The sheer talent of the cast—drawn from London schools by the brilliant, entirely self-funded Young Pleasance—is what makes this so special, as they move effortlessly between playing children, teachers and parents. They bring a depth and maturity to the stage that puts far more seasoned ensembles to shame.