Staged at The Courtyard Theatre. TW Child Abuse.
Bolstered by big and detailed performances by all four leads, and a deeper examination of the pressures facing young people as they go into exam season, Capping gains its strength from its compassion. Spanning the home lives of four teenagers as they prepare for their exams, issues of abuse, parentification, identity, class, and parental pressure are examined with detail and care.
The production’s most important intervention is in how it broaches the child abuse of boys. Rather than treating that subject as a twist or a sensational reveal, the piece opens space for the confusion, shame and delayed comprehension that can surround abuse, especially when boys are not given the same public vocabulary for vulnerability.
Alongside that, Capping is alert to the parentification of young black girls – Olivia is tasked with looking after her younger siblings as her mother is often out of the house, and the use of monologue here was welcome, if a little repetitive. Where this storyline really shines is in how Olivia is able to show up for her friends, and in turn, have them show up for her.
On lighter notes, the play understands young friendship as both refuge and pressure cooker — a place where jokes, secrets, testing boundaries and desperate loyalty sit side by side. The best moments seem to come from that contradiction: these characters are trying to look after one another with tools they do not fully have yet, but they do their best.
Capping is strongest at its fastest – when it allows the energy and momentum of its dialogue to propel both comedy and conflict, and let its performers fly unencumbered.
My deepest thanks to the production team for the invitation.