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Where most kids’ shows swirl you into a bustling world of friendship and adventure, Mike Kenny's ‘Random Selfies’ is a sombre look at what it's like to be lonely; less Enid Blyton, more Jacqueline Wilson at her grittiest.
It's the story of Loretta, a ten-year-old girl who welcomes you into her bedroom in a flat where the curtains are always closed, and tells you about her life with the exuberance of a much younger kid ‘putting on a show’. She acts out conversations with her mum, with the mean girls at school, and with Maya, a refugee who she meets and tentatively befriends.
Christina Ngoyi’s performance is believable, alternating between confident bluster and glimpses of sadness. But it's not quite enough to inject energy into this show's slightly plodding pace: as directed by Owen Calvert-Lyons, it takes a while for Loretta's story to get going. One wall of Loretta's bedroom is a projector screen, where moody, stylish illustrations by Rachana Jadhav evoke her school, her frenemies, and the flat upstairs where ‘Mrs Thing’ lives. They're not half as vivid or colourful as the contents of her astronaut and unicorn-filled imagination. And scenes like the one where Loretta larks around with a dressing up box full of flamboyant clothes don't quite catch light, especially as the clothes provided aren't the right size for Ngoyi to be able to actually try them on.
Still, Kenny's story holds lots of treats. What could be a trite ‘be yourself’ message is handled with wit and subtlety. He doesn't belittle Loretta's approaches for dealing with loneliness (endless selfies, internet-stalking the girls who don't want to hang out with her). He just gently signals that her image of herself isn't accurate, through warm, carefully-handled conversations with the new friends she makes. And even if it could do with a few more Crayola scribbles of colour and joy, this story's ultimate message about the power of creativity still shines bright.