Chapel Street is part of the Old Vic New Voices project, showcasing promising young talent.
Luke Barnes sets off two monologues that must inevitably collide. Stage left is Cary Crankson’s Joe, a likely lad in his mid-20s. Opposite stands Ria Zmitrowicz playing Kirsty, a schoolgirl of 14 going on 45.
Almost talking together, the pair outline their lives as they prepare for a typical drunken Friday night.
The speech patterns and enthusiasms sound pretty convincing. Joe is desperate for work and happy to enjoy a few drinks with his manic pals and the chance to pull. Nervy, little Kirsty is obsessed with clothes, drinks and her best friend’s pervy Dad.
Slowly, the two evenings coincide until the couple meet and humour is injected as each explains their views and understanding of each other. The differences in interpretation will be easily recognisable.
Despite a lack of dramatic tension at times, Chapel Street is a worthy portrait of the vacuity of young lives in Britain today where low level jobs require MAs and parents have no control over their wild kids.