365

It's an ensemble piece with a young cast. The text is by a hot Scottish playwright (David Harrower, whose recent work includes Blackbird), and informed by extensive research. Steven Hoggett, creator of one of the most touching scenes in Black Watch, is movement director. There are even flight wires, although here they are used rather differently.

Perhaps this is the point, in a way. The play is about kids leaving local authority care and embarking on independent lives. They are helped by a social worker burdened with a heavy caseload that prevents her from sticking around long in any of the 'practice flats' where the young people are attempting to learn basic survival skills.

It feels as though a lot of research has gone into the creation of 365, and that recent news stories may have provided material. Truth is often darker and more sensational than fiction, but after a few ham-fisted scenes dealing with enormously complex social problems (such as the immigration of unaccompanied minors) it becomes clear that the work is much too sprawling and superficial to offer any real insight into the issues it tackles.

What is the purpose of 365? Most people are aware of the challenges facing both children in care and those who look after them, and despair when they read about cases of neglect and abuse. This production barely goes beyond the horror stories: a brief monologue or choreographed segment cannot convey years of emotional damage in any meaningful way.

Georgina McGuinness's design has the back wall of the Playhouse exposed, with domestic and more surreal settings created using beds, kitchen units and trees. Towards the end a very expensive-looking piece of set comes into play, but by this point it feels as though director Vicky Featherstone is just throwing gimmicks onto the stage in an attempt to disguise the glaring weakness of the material.

It's easy to see why the creative team wanted to explore this subject matter dramatically ' it's a real shame that the resulting production fails so spectacularly.