Speech and Debate

by Stephen Karam

seen at the Trafalgar Studios Two on 9 March 2017

Tom Attenborough directs Douglas Booth as Howard, Patsy Ferran as Diwata, Tony Revolori as Solomon and Charlotte Lucas as the teacher and the reporter in this play about three teenagers at school in Salem (Oregon) forming an unlikely partnership after stumbling across each other through social media and interest in the illicit behaviour of one of their teachers. The two young men, established film and TV actors, are making their West End debuts in this production and acquit themselves very well, while Patsy Ferran already has two prominent roles at the National under her belt.

Howard, new to the school and openly gay, is idly arranging an assignation through an online chat when he recognises the email address of his correspondent - it is one of his teachers.

Diwata is creating a vlog (video blog) to vent her frustration at not being cast in the school musical - perhaps she can create some bad feeling against the director by hinting at his unsavoury behaviour (without actually knowing if there is any such).

Solomon, who aspires to be a journalist, is having trouble getting permission to write an article for the school newspaper on anything at all controversial in what is evidently a very staid town, even though the public press is already reporting that the Mayor, who has consistently spoken against any gay-friendly legislation, has been using chatrooms to link up with teenage boys. 

The situation could be poisonous (for example, The Children's Hour), damaging for a student (for example, Teddy Ferrara) or even rueful (for example, The History Boys) but this play does not really go in any of these directions. It is essentially a three-hander examining the interactions of the youngsters as they unexpectedly meet in person after Solomon sees the posts of the other two on-line. (He is obviously more savvy than the others - Diwata in particular does not seem to realise that what she considers a private diary is not very private if it is posted on the net.)

Patsy Ferran is really impressive as Diwata; she perfectly captures the implacable self-belief of a teenager whose aspirations far outweigh her actual talent. She is full of self-righteous anger at having been overlooked, she is writing a musical based on The Crucible, hoping to exonerate the character of Mary Warren, and she knows exactly how to run a club devoted to speech and debate and will brook no interruption to her plans. It's great to watch.

Douglas Booth brings a handsome charm to the part of Howard, excellently contrasted with Tony Revolori's nervous energy and far more conflicted attitudes. Howard appears to be relaxed with himself, though he clearly feels that Salem is a dump compared to wherever he came from (it is, however, the state capital of Oregon), while Solomon seems both driven and at the same time ill at ease. But both boys are amusingly out of their depth when being persuaded to prepare the rhetorical exercises devised by Diwata. In fact, all three actors manage to show us teenagers who fundamentally don't know how to act (quite a clever feat), and Diwata's insistence that they include a dance which is a striptease down to a 'nude body stocking' is hilarious.

But there are also serious issues at stake here of self-awareness, understanding of the problems of others, and the possibly painful consequences of honesty, and these too are handled well. Each character reveals something to one of the others, or accidentally knows something about one of the others, but they are all unwilling to have this knowledge generally available. Inevitably, revelations occur in the heat of the moment, leading to some awkward tensions, but it is interesting to see these three young people grappling with the need to be more than self-reliant. The crucial scene in which Solomon's bravado collapses in a bout of vomiting and misery is convincingly handled by all three actors, who convey nervous compassion and panic in equal measure.

After the performance, Debate Mate, a company which teaches debating skills to school students, conducted a debate on the proposition 'This house believes that digital technology has done more to disconnect than connect relationships'. Interesting points were made on both sides, and though I am actually ambivalent about this proposition, I voted for it. However the majority of those who stayed for the debate voted against it.