The Trolleys
THE TROLLEYS, ATYP at the Wharf, 4-14 November 2015 (some performances already sold out). Photography by Tracey Schramm: above the Trolleys, from top left: Harry Straw, Finbar Clayton, Laura Bunting, Kiri Jenssen, Scarlett Waters, Coco Jack Gillies and Max Mulvenney; right: Kiri Jenssen.
By FELICITY and JAMES DAYHEW, junior reviewers
The Trolleys is a play set in post-apocalypse times, by Sara West and directed by Danielle O’Keefe. Everyone has a light, and if your light goes out, that’s the end of you, you turn into colourful dust or “dusters”. A group of kids, who call themselves The Trolleys, all have lights which are fading. They don’t know why, or how they can stop it, so they set off to find a solution, across a kind of city wilderness.
The set is great. At the beginning, it has bits and bobs hanging from the ceiling to show they are in a mismatched, self-built building. They also have a big arch of black cloth that they use to show they are in a cave. We think the set and props really described the mood and positioning of the play very well. It is dark and mysterious. Although we think they could have had a more flexible stage that is, more environments due to a lot of exploration happening.
The characters are very good. My favourite was probably Baby May, played by Coco Jack Gillies, because she is very believable. All the actors and actresses are great though. Lemon, played by Kiri Jenssen sings beautifully and Blue and River (Laura Bunting and Finbar Clayton) are the comedians of the whole thing. Savage Kim (Scarlett Waters), Jones Boy (Max Mulvenney) and Phlegm (Harry Straw) are really good too.
The costumes are amazing. They really make you believe that they are scruffy, dirty kids with their mismatched socks, and layered clothing showing they have to scavenge for pretty much everything. Melanie Liertz designed the set and costumes.
The lighting is fantastic too (Emma Lockhart-Wilson) with different colours and shades representing different things, it really does make the whole stage look changed and like other places. The music is brilliant also (Sam Weller with mentor Steve Francis) making suspense build up inside you and jumps at every turn, the music definitely is amazing.
The Trolleys is a great play that has a great message (love is much better than being mean). It also reminded us of the Hunger Games and Divergent series. We recommend it for 10+ because there are some scary scenes. We hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!
