We might not all remember our school days fondly, but One Way Out – one of the three winner’s of this year’s Untapped award in Edinburgh – coaxes out all the banter, fun and games you’d want from your teenage years. Underneath the sparky rapport shared by the four male leads, however, this play written by Montel Douglas tells a darker story.
The play was inspired by Douglas’s memories of his cousin being handed a deportation notice at 19. It shows Devonte (Shem Hamilton), who was born in Jamaica but whose life has been spent in the UK, opening a letter informing him that he must find the correct documents to prove his right to stay. All of this burns with the unfairness of the system and Devonte’s cries of “there must be another way” are haunting.
There are glimpses into his friends’ lives, too. Paul (Sam Pote) has a father who hits him when he comes home drunk. Salim (played with tenderness by Adam Seridji) has big dreams of taking over and running his uncle’s corner shop business. Tunde (Marcus Omoro) just hopes to keep his head down, stay out of trouble and get into university. They are on the brink of the rest of their lives and are starting to carve out their identities as men.
The script is a bit frenzied. It can feel like the characters take it in turns to present their traumas and then withdraw without the required resolution. But Douglas’s strength is in writing personalities you want to spend time with. Together, the boys dance, joke, fight and make up – they could easily be a gang of friends you’d recognise from any youth club.
If you don’t leave angry at the government and for the people left broken by the Windrush scandal you haven’t been paying attention. One Way Out might be slightly unpolished, but it flickers with budding potential.
At Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh, until 27 August.
