Cockroach

Cockroach is a play that embodies the notion of 'losing the plot'. It is an ambitious piece that has many good components but ultimately gets lost.

Set in a classroom containing five semi-delinquents and an impassioned teacher, the action takes place in a world where a 'great and just' war is taking its toll on the British populace.

Emotions and hormones run high as everyone's life begins to erode. Anchoring everything are lessons centred on biology and evolution; lessons which the students find boring in a theoretical sense but are actually heavily involved with in a practical sense.

The most admirable aspect of the production is Vicky Featherstone's work as a director. The piece is well staged, from the excellent choice of turning Traverse 1 into a theatre-in-the-round and having the audience enter from the very doorway the cast use, to the clever pacing and ambiance. Featherstone manages to constantly find interesting and surprising ways of keeping the dramatic action moving.

All six cast members give exceptional performances. Ryan Fletcher and Owen Whitelaw are great as the two young men, grappling with both their sexuality and violent natures, while Laura McMonagle and Helen Mallon are equally good as two students facing their budding maturities and the notion of being abandoned by the men in their lives.

Meg Fraser gives a sympathetic performance as a teacher conflicted between announcing government-sponsored propaganda and empowering her students enough to achieve marks that will allow them to avoid military service. Frances Ashman, however, has the most difficult task of playing the quiet student who 'rises' from obscurity to being an intelligent leader, and she succeeds admirably.

But as this is the first of a series of NTS and Traverse 'Debuts', much focus should be given to playwright Sam Holcroft. With its engaging dialogue, clever take on a classroom setting and use of multiple themes, there is much to like about the script. In fact, Holcroft should be praised, for few first-time playwrights would have the courage to go after as many themes and ideas as she does.

But therein lays the play's greatest flaw: the multiple threads do not work well together. The first half of the play is surprising because one is not quite sure where it is all going, but once Holcroft shows her cards halfway through, everything becomes inevitable. The second half introduces some outrageous ideas and leaps, many of which don't quite work. Because of this, characters we once cared about become hollow and less engaging, resulting in little emotional payoff in the end.

Because of this, Cockroach outreaches its ambitions and leaves one cold, even if it is well produced, performed and intentioned. Still, it shows potential for a playwright who has a great deal to say and, with a bit more time and polish, may become an important dramatic voice.