Lovely Mess, subtitled 48 stories of shame, is a new work by
Riot Stage Youth Theatre that does find that exquisite kind of loveliness in
the messiness of young lives.
Ten performers, all under twenty-five and one who is much
younger, tell short stories of shame which are sometimes amusing and
occasionally very dark. We’re told that the stories are true, mostly, but the
way they are told they feel true – because variations on these kinds of stories
must happen all the time. There’s not a moment that feels dishonest, even as we
know this is theatre.
The set is just a line-up of chairs, with a few microphone
stands to help these novice performers sound clear in the space. Even the
smallest, nervous voices echo around the room.
The rhythm of the piece feels much like a group of friends
sitting around at a party, telling their own truths about life. There’s some digital
art on the back wall to remind us of how young these people were when these
life moments happened. There’s a silent narrator to the side, illustrating the
vignettes as they are told.
Occasionally one performer will interrupt another with a
random question or interrogate them fully with a list of either/or suppositions
supplied by the audience.
Lovely Mess
reminds us of the superficial and the profound that happens to us in our youth,
often at the same time and it’s far more lovely than it is a mess.
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