The play Beautiful things follows the life of 15 year old Jamie, living in Thamesmead, a working class part of East London in 1992. Jamie lives with his single mother Sandra on a council estate where along with his friend and neighbour Ste, Jamie is keeping a secret from his mum and the people around him.
I found this peace very moving but although this performance touched on topics that may be seen as quite sensitive, such as child abuse and being able to come out as gay being a teenager, it managed to make a very humours and funny performance.
The performance started rather steadily by at first slowly establishing each of the five characters and their relationships with each other and within the location. The play is set in an estate so the use of end-on staging and a very simplistic, dull and grey set created a realistic atmosphere for the location that was wanted. The characters spend most of their time during the performance in what is meant to be seen as some sort of court yard, where they interact and socialise with each other, wether that be while hanging out the washing or relaxing in the sun. The space was used effectively by using the front and back of the stage to distinguish the different moments and convosations amongst the characters.
The costume that the characters were dressed in played a big role in creating a feeling of the 90's which is the period where the play is set, by presenting the sort of clothes that would have been worn at that time. Not only that, but it also helped to express each characters personality, for example Jamie is someone who is not very keen on football and sport so his school uniform is neat. Unlike ste who loves football and sport so his uniform is quite scruffy and dirty.
Lighting in this performance meant that the set and scene transitions could be effectively and easily done. Spot lights where used to draw attentions towards a specific character or part of the stage, so all concentration could be on that point while a change in the set is made. Lighting also enabled different times of the day to be shown in the performance with darker lighting showing its night and so forth.
There aren't many aspects of this performance that I felt needed changing, apart from maybe a few things like how the fight scene between Jamie and Samdra was choreographed as it could have been a bit more realistic looking. But over all I really enjoyed the peace and I felt constently engaged with the performance through out. Sooth quick transitions meant I never really felt a lull in the energy and I also thought there was a good mix of the more serious subjects and comedy so it never became to intense or boring.
