BWW Reviews: THE BOY ON THE BRIDGE, The Rose Theatre, October 16 2011

Bridges are glorious examples of man's ability to bring together people separated by the physical obstacles of valley, river or railway. They are also perfect locations for those who decide that their connection with others is so flimsy that they feel compeled to end it all. They thrillingly re-create the world, while inviting us to destroy it.

Jonjo (Steve Clarke) is an eccentric young man who has made his home on a disused railway bridge, as part of his grand plan to visit all the world's bridges. Educated, wealthy and initially brimming with misanthropy, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Ziggy (Charlie Cussons), a sweet, innocent kid with, as the saying has it, issues. Ziggy has been more or less fostered by child psychologist Linda (Anna Tarsh), but she has domestic problems of her own and she's a physician in need of curing herself. Jonjo takes Ziggy under his wing and gives him the attention and fatherly love he craves and as he teaches the kid to read, it dawns on Jonjo that Ziggy is filling a need in his life and that it's Ziggy who is, if subconsciously, driving the relationship. Enter old backpacking buddy Malc (Bobby Hirst) and his new on-off girlfriend Kathy (Frankie Meredith) and soon the ties that bind the boy-man Ziggy, the boy-father Jonjo and the psychologist-mother Linda start to sway and buckle like the famous bridge over the Tacoma Narrows.

Set in the present, but written in the 90s, the play requires a some suspension of disbelief (nobody appears to use a mobile, computer games are played in arcades and not on PS3s or DS devices, and nobody is on facebook) but at its heart, the story of needy people slowly being stripped bare to find the source of their pain deep in their childhoods, is one that has always been true and, alas, always will be. Great demands are made by director Dimitry Dedariani on his young cast with Steve Clarke capturing all of Jonjo's authority, if not quite the requisite charisma. Anna Tarsh and Frankie Meredith do well in slightly under-written parts and Bobby Hirston is very good as the swaggering and slighted Malc. Charlie Cussons is quite sensational as Ziggy, pitifully bereft of the love he seeks, utterly frightening when suddenly recalling his father's abuse and never less than totally convincing as an innocent abroad in a world in which he cannot find a secure footing.

Performed on the Rose Theatre's tiny stage, Gareth Pilkington's play is a serious examination of human frailties and the importance of building psychological bridges and maintaining them. There's a bit of swearing and violence, but nothing that would attract more than a 15 certificate in the cinema, so older teens will be okay with material that will speak to them directly. There aren't many laughs, but that's not the aim of a production that catapults us into five lives and sends them spinning out of control.

The Boy on the Bridge is at The Rose Theatre until 29 October. You can read more about this extraordinary site and the work being done to save it here.       

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