Seventeen is Surprising, Clever, Funny and Shocking

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But Lyric's latest play fails to live up to its early promise, says Penny Flood

 

A group of teenagers come together to spend one last night partying in the park playground, to celebrate finishing A-levels and leaving school.  Here they are on the cusp of adulthood, with lots of teenage angst, full of insecurities and confused not just about the future, but of the present too. They're still struggling to come to terms with who they are now before they can contemplate who they're going to be.

The group is made up of loud-mouthed bully Mike (Michael Feast); his best friend, the quieter, thoughtful Tom (Roger Sloman);  Mike's girlfriend, Jess (Diana Hardcastle) and her best friend Emilia (Margot Leicester). Later on they're joined by introverted, awkward Ronny (Mike Grade) and Mike's 15 year old precocious and wise-beyond-her-years sister Lizzy (Sarah Ball).

The casting is interesting, all six of them are over 70, and they make a very good fist of playing much younger people right down to moving like 17 year olds, clambering around the huge climbing frame that fills the stage, and strutting their stuff in some funky dance moves.

Of course they've stocked up on alcohol - beer, cheap wine and tequila - and as it flows they become more garrulous and, in between the vomiting and a nose bleed, hidden truths start to emerge and all sorts of things go wrong; friendships and love affairs break and are remade while the swearing gets louder and louder.

It's surprising, it's clever, it's tender, it's funny, it's shocking, even heartbreaking, with some great  moments, but - and this is a big but - it lacks a strong storyline. We know what's bothering them, they've revealed their innermost thoughts, we know why they are like they are, but that's it, it doesn't go anywhere.

In spite of a strong cast, slick direction and lots of clever creatives it begins to drag, becoming just so much pointless noise, which is a disappointment because for the  first 40 minutes it held out so much promise.

Seventeen continues at Lyric Hammersmith until 8 April at 7.30pm nightly, with matinees on Saturdays at 2.30pm and Wednesdays at 1.30pm.

Book tickets online or call the box office on 020 8741 6850.

March 24, 2017