Edinburgh is bustling again this summer, with festivalgoers queueing for shows including this one presented by Rhum + Clay and the New Diorama. Look around the Pleasance Courtyard and it seems like an ordinary day at the fringe except, as we all know, everything has changed. We are adapting to the pandemic but while the natural instinct and government guidance is to move forward, looking back is essential to processing what we’ve been through.
Without any direct references to Covid, this play for seven-to-11-year-olds retreads all too familiar scenarios of the last couple of years from a child’s perspective: school closures, stressed parents glued to news updates, rocketing anxiety and anger, a world on pause and days that get smaller.
Smart, sensitively handled and – crucially – a lot of fun, it’s co-created by director Julian Spooner and performers Matt Wells and Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens. The pair play primary schoolchildren, also named Matt and Lakeisha, who are already dealing with changes in their lives before the global turbulence. He’s the new boy in class, getting used to a smaller bedroom after moving to the area; she has been here for years but her sister has moved out and the room they shared seems bigger and emptier.
Both wake one morning to a catastrophe predominantly described in environmental terms, with days that swerve from scorching heat to snow before the school bell has even rung. It means the play anticipates the continued disruptive effects of the climate emergency for children as well as helping them filter the pandemic experience. Suddenly, terrible rumours abound in the playground, everyone’s afraid of sneezing and neither Matt nor Lakeisha want to sleep with the light off. Worst of all, adults no longer seem to have the answers.
Designer Amanda Mascarenhas’s set of shining geometric panels is cleverly used to represent the world’s equilibrium, which Matt and Lakeisha set out on a mission to mend. There’s plenty of interaction with the young audience whose individual hopes and experiences are not just sought out but shown to help the duo’s quest. Empathy is matched with empowerment.
There is a lot of fantastical fun for kids at the fringe and not many theatres around the country will be programming Covid shows for a young audience. While parents and carers rightly want to embrace escapism, this is one vital adventure in a very real world turned upside down.
• Everything Has Changed is at Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until 16 August.
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