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In a motel in Australia's Northern Territory a social worker is trying her best with a troubled teenager. The girl wears a grubby hangman’s hood and is highly aggressive. She has clearly been abused, but exactly what is going on is murky.
Also in the motel is a policeman and his pregnant wife. They’ve come from a wedding and he wants to go out for the afterparty. But it soon becomes apparent his desire to attend is less to do with bonhomie and more with a dubious loyalty to the groom, whose recent actions towards a young detainee have placed him in jeopardy.
The clear thread joining these stories is the state’s treatment of vulnerable young people, and the cyclical nature of abuse. Despite its Australian milieu these are universal themes, emphasised by the production’s association with the NSPCC. But while writer Angela Betzien evokes a moving tapestry of the multifarious ways in which young people can be victimised – starting with mistreatment in the womb – the strands struggle to bind. Occasional overlapping dialogue and interactions between the policemen and social worker are not enough to create an effective dovetail.
This being said it’s a deeply stirring and troubling evening, helped by a taut and tense production from Audrey Sheffield. The threat of violence hangs over every scene. And it features some impressively committed performances from the ensemble. Alasdair Craig teems with anguish as Craig, the cop with a conscience, while Katy Brittain and Annabel Smith spar with visceral rage as the social worker Anni and her charge Grace.
Theatre503 has undergone a real resurgence of late under new artistic director Lisa Spirling. And even though 'The Dark Room' doesn’t completely hang together by the end – the literal evocation of a ghost from the characters’ pasts seems an unnecessary indulgence – it’s nevertheless another bold piece of new work tackling important and timely issues.