culture
Take in This Timely Tyke Terror
World War II-era cautionary tale has been given a post-modern veneer.
Photo by Jordan Probst.
In Dennis Potter’s drama, televised by the BBC in 1979, a group of children (played by adults) squabble, tease, and goad each other into increasingly dangerous pursuits in a forest. The setting was originally World War II-era Britain, but local theatre company Good Old Neon has updated Blue Remembered Hills to a nameless near-future North America, with explicit references to a dystopian Trump regime that’s fomented fear and hatred of “Moslems” and “the Japs.” The Trump call out is, in our opinion, unnecessary; the world created by the company is chillingly effective without any current references. It bears a more than passing resemblance to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, as the unsupervised children bully and entertain each other in the adultless countryside. There’s strong work from the ensemble, but Michael-David Blostein stands out in particular as a callous and temperamental instigator.
To February 24, Artscape Youngplace (180 Shaw Street), Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 8 p.m., Friday, 5:30 & 8: 30 p.m., $25.
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