After its short run at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre, Lucy Burke’s ‘Glitter Punch’ a play that focuses on love, sex and the difference between the two makes a swift return to the Kings Head.
The narrative focuses on the life of sixteen year old ‘Molly’ (Charlotte Salkind) who like any teenager yearns to escape her dreary college existence, her louse of a stepfather and her little life in Salford, Manchester. After Meting the mysterious ‘John’ (Hadley Smith), the pair soon realise that regardless of the hurdles they face, they are all the other needs.
Lucy Burkes writing is extremely raw and there’s a fresh, familiar quality to the piece however the concept itself, although interesting was extremely slow on the uptake and did not quite achieve the impact I believe it was aiming for.
Charlotte Salkind was energised and hopeful as the naive ‘Molly’, showing strength and agility in the first part of the story, yet towards the end fell fault of flatlining in the truly emotional scenes. This could be down to Peter Taylor’s direction, nonetheless it felt very much like “acting”. Although what was occurring to the characters was heartbreaking, I found myself more concerned as to whether this poor, put upon actor would manage to squeeze out a tear.
Hadley Smith was reserved and very poised as the “posh-boy” ‘John’ and although very quiet there was an unhinged quality to his character. I feel he could have benefited with more to say, but other than that I very much enjoyed his performance.
Despite its few faults this is a very well put together concept that tells a story of normality and just getting through. With some tweaking and work it could be a very fine piece, but I’m afraid I left the theatre feeling unsatisfied and apathetic.
Reviewed by Jimmy Richards
GLITTER PUNCH plays at the Kings Head Theatre until 25 February 2017
