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 Tonight should have been opening night, but due to technical problems it was the dress rehearsal – but I had booked and went just the same as I was unsure about my timetable for the rest of the run.This is a play that is not for the faint hearted – and there was no interval, but that may have been because it was a dress rehearsal. On the other hand, I could not see a point in the play where one could have put an interval without destroying the tension of the action.
 The play has only a small cast – 5 people – and the unseen/unheard mother. 3 children, one of them still in primary school are alone in a flat. The older girl, 16 year old Tiana, played by Na-Keisha Pebody, is looking after the other two – 13 year old Tionne (Jeremiah Burlen) and 9 year old Tanika (Siah Isla) . Tiana is trying desperately to care for her siblings. We know that their mother is not there, and has not been present since the previous Thursday, but we don’t know why. All three give excellent performances, often swinging from one mood to another very quickly. One begins to suspect that there are mental health issues here. Tiana convinces the other two not to speak to anyone about their situation, since they don’t want to go into care – since they have been in care before, and they don’t want to be separated. I will not explain the denouement, since that would be a spoiler for anyone who is going to see it in the future.
 They are visited by Dr. Feelgood (Heath Muirhead), who tries to help them to a certain extent, and who seems to have had some sort of relationship with the mother – but who takes their TV. Then Tanika’s teacher, Ms. Jenkins (Myriam Laurent) brings Tanika home and wants to see their mother. Tionne gives her a phone number and she phones it, and feels satisfied enough to leave. Tionne and Tanika have nobody looking after them, until Tiana comes home. However, Dr. Feelgood returns to try to clear their blocked lavatory, but tries to get Tiana to acquiesce to his demands in return for the favour for which she asks him. When he finds out just what that favour is, he changes his mind. Ms. Jenkins returns to find out why Tanika has not been in school to take photos of her class on a special day. Then the whole thing unravels ...
 Without exception, the performances are excellent, and the cast and production team are to be congratulated on a really good production. It must be difficult to produce scenery in a short time and of a high standard, but in this play, as in others I have seen at the Tower, the scenery was excellent – well done to Shereen Ali and the team who produced it. The lighting (Steph Siraut) was interesting, particularly the luminous green floor effect.
 Lyla Abass, the Director, is to be congratulated also on her production of what is not an easy play. I can understand her interest in this particular play, given the work she does in the remainder of her professional life. As it was the dress rehearsal, there were one or two rough edges still to be dealt with – but the cast handled them superbly. Once again, the play was of the high standard that I have come to expect in Tower productions.
 This is a harrowing play which brings to mind some of the cases to which social services may be called, but often has funny one-liners, so it is not without humour. Anyone who is, shall we say, a little delicate about bad language should perhaps avoid it, but it is in many ways true to what is not always a perfect life – a play further from the "anyone for tennis?" school of plays would be hard to find. If I were to carp about anything, it would be that the cast were sometimes a little hard to hear, although they seemed to develop in confidence, as one would expect, as the play continued and they settled into the action in what must have been a difficult situation, given that it was a dress rehearsal.
I would highly recommend this production, but – as I said – it is not for the faint-hearted. I look forward to seeing these actors again in future productions.
Photography by Robert Piwko
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