Review: Please Right Back (The Studio Edinburgh)

Bright imaginations in a bleak world

A common question about family theatre is what differentiates it from children’s theatre. It is a distinction that calls upon the former to prove that it is truly suitable for all ages and does not only appeal to the youngest (and most easily pleased) of audiences. A harder question is what kind of families are family shows for? What family structures are represented, and who do they speak to? Often theatre makers and storytellers choose not to stray from the classic image of a “conventional” family, with two parents in the picture and happy, well-adjusted children. That is not the case for the family in 1927’s Please Right Back.

Photo Credit: Andrew Perry

First, we meet Mr. E, who is given a secret mission to deliver a briefcase but gets tangled in a fantastical tale of espionage. He recounts his adventures in his letters to his children Kim and Davey, whose world is far less colourful. As we learn, their father is not on a spy adventure, but in prison. 1927’s piece is a political critique of the prison system and how social services fail the families of convicts. They approach that difficult topic with real tenderness, and with creative direction and dramaturgy; taking advantage of all the possibilities of their live-performance-with-animation style, but remaining grounded and true to their political intentions. It is performed by a remarkably versatile cast, with Jenny Wills in an impressive turn as the children’s mother, trying her best to navigate their circumstances without polishing herself to be palatable to middle-class social workers (or, indeed, audiences).

The performance has something of a double ending – the one we are expecting, and the one 1927 was working towards all along. The clever visual storytelling devolves into grandstanding that, if any families are in the audience, will lose the kids and several adults. It isn’t that the arguments are poorly made, but it feels too close to a speech compared to the thoughtful theatricality that has come before it. It is rather ironic that a story about protecting children from the harshness of the world with fantasy essentially does the opposite for its audience; drawing back the curtain on a segment of society which is usually shielded from view. Even if the 1927 get on an animated soapbox at the end, their ambition and execution of political, visual theatre with Please Right Back is igniting. Four stars.