Collateral Damage
“I hate my life”
Nicholas
How difficult is it to have a family member convicted of sexual assault on a minor and sent to prison? Especially if you cannot be sure as to his innocence or guilt? This is the situation Leigh (Lisa Dwan) nurse and mother to teenager Nicholas (Jem Matthews) finds herself in. Her husband Tom (David Sturzaker) is maintaining his innocence and his wife Leigh has stood by him.
He has come out of prison but everything has changed. He has lost his teaching job, lost his income and money is much tighter than it was. Especially after all those legal bills. But what has also changed is how his neighbours view Tom and his family. In a way the doubt is worse than any certainty. The immediacy of the problem is in the impact on Nicholas having to cope with his father’s reputation at a vulnerable point in his life with fingers pointing at the son of a convicted paedophile.
As the audience we too are unable to determine Tom’s innocence or guilt. We never get to see the 15 year old victim or hear details of the case and so are unable to draw conclusions. Carey Crim’s script and David Sturzaker gives us conflicting messages because he is sometimes wheedling and manipulative and sometimes open and kind and an understanding husband. We know he was a very popular teacher but his charismatic English teaching is also billed as grooming.
As the play progresses more revelations are placed in front of Lisa Dwan’s Leigh and we see her start to breakdown under the pressure. Her best friend Jayne (Allyson Ava-Brown) makes up her mind that, if Tom might be guilty what she has to do is to protect her own daughters, who are the same age as Nicholas, from what Tom might be.
Jayne’s husband Bruce (Jonathan Nyati) is happy just to have his mate Tom back out of prison and accepting the friendship. A final revelation is that when he was 22 years old and a teaching assistant, that Tom was in relationship with a 17 year old, invites the idea that he is a repeat offender. But is that different from being 42 and grooming a 15 year old and kissing her? The issue is the relative power of the man as teacher and marker of the girl’s academic progress. What is so difficult is that often the only witnesses are the accuser and the accused.
It is Nicholas’s issues with drugs that are so devastating for us all. The play is well acted and directed by Katherine Farmer and unsettling in its conclusion. In the final scenes Leigh is totally conflicted and finds the pressure unbearable and it cannot be just 30 minutes a day when she has doubts.
Production Notes
23.5 Hours
Written by Carey Crim
Directed by Katherine Farmer
Cast
Starring:
David Sturzaker
Allyson Ava-Brown
Lisa Dwan
Jonathan Nyati
Jem Matthews
Creatives
Director: Katherine Farmer
Designer: Carla Goodman`
Lighting Designer: Jamie Platt
Composer and Sound Designer:
Julian Starr
Information
Running Time: Two hours 15 minutes with an interval
Booking to 5th October 2024
Theatre:
Park 200
London N4 3JP
Tube: Finsbury Park
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge
at the Park Theatre
on 9th September 2024