Truckstop

It's difficult to tell what audiences are expected to take from Truckstop, by Dutch playwright Lot Vekemans. This is a little surprising for a work co-presented by John Retallack's excellent Company of Angels, whose powerfully productions for young people have included Hannah and Hanna and Virgins.

Katalijne (Eugenia Caruso) is a shy, wide-eyed 18-year-old who works with her mother in the café-cum-boarding house of the title. Recently the Truckstop has suffered a dramatic loss of business, due to both local competition and the increasing popularity of delivery lorries equipped with luxury facilities.

Clearly there are going to have to be some changes, but the blossoming of romance between Katalijne and young trucker Remco triggers a chain of events with a violent and shocking climax. The trouble is, it feels as though some of the links are missing.

Presumably Katalijne's character is on the autism spectrum, but while she has a tendency to become preoccupied by detail and order, she's also fairly socially adept, at least as far as can be ascertained from her interactions with Remco and her mother. References to 'hypers, fits and panic attacks' and genetic abnormality further complicate the diagnosis.

The play is so ambiguous that it's difficult to form emotional connections with any of the three characters. The cast, and Caruso in particular, nevertheless give committed performances. The drama begins and ends with her literally picking up the pieces, but as she brushes tears from her cheeks there remains a barrier between her pain and the audience's understanding.