10-Aug-2008

In a couple of efforts at Traverse, Joel Horwood has shown himself to be a great talent and this coming of age comedy confirms the impression. He is a chronicler of ordinary lives in Constable Country, this time a town that sees Lowestoft as the height of sophistication and exciting night life.

The story focuses on a trio of teenagers during their GCSEs and each is a well-rounded, sympathetically drawn individual.

Aaron Foy as Fitz and Harry Hepple playing Wheeler are best mates with different outlooks. The former has great common sense and needs it. He lives with a father who three years on is still almost catatonic following the loss of his wife and requires the support of his young son to hold on to sanity.

Wheeler enjoys the luxuries of a stable family with money. He has university aspirations and a good brain but the ability to bypass it after a couple of drinks.

They enter into a wild, picaresque journey after meeting a gorgeous nymphet called Dani(ella) (Gemma Soul). Spoilt does not adequately describe this young, blonde heiress whose mother makes up for a broken home with every luxury and great tolerance.

Dani persuades the boys that a night on the town would be more fun than Biology revision and then winds them around her little finger with consequences that could blight their lives forever.

All three of the younger actors play their parts perfectly, seemingly recreating their own experiences - at least to an extent- while Andrew Barron and Rosie Thomson as all of the parents prove to be character actors with a sense of both drama and humour.

Philip Fisher

21-Aug-2008

I have been to Walberswick and I never caught crabs, but I'm glad I caught this new play by Fringe First Winner Joel Horwood.

Fitz and Wheeler are two teenage boys stuck in a backwater village in East Anglia, the sort of place where ‘nice people' live and from which teenagers long to escape. When not catching crabs (of the crustaceous variety) they hang about aimlessly on the seafront or enjoy the only remotely exciting thing on their limited horizon, spending a night clubbing and taking drugs in Lowestoft. Fitz is sexually immature and has the best line in the play - I won't give it away - whereas Wheeler thinks of himself as more worldly as he downloads porn on his father's computer. What throws a spanner into the delicate works of their fragile friendship is the arrival of Dani, a posh girl from a good school in London, on holiday in Walberswick with her mother. She is the catalyst, and on one hot night during exam leave, she and the two boys steal a car and from that moment on Fitz and Wheeler put crab-catching behind them for ever. The fault lines in the friendship between the two boys begin to show until the inevitable fracture when past secrets are revealed and jealousy rises like a green demon from the ocean.

Aaron Foy as Fitz and Barry Hepple as Wheeler are excellent as the two boys, Aaron Foy giving a supremely touching, amusing and sensitive performance in this, his stage debut. And Gemma Soul is good too as the young city siren who carries them onto the rocks. However, we have been in coming-of-age and road-trip territory before and sadly ‘I Caught Crabs' offers nothing beyond the usual horizons. It has a fine sense of place, and there is a well-acted and powerful moment when the two teenagers come to blows in the sea, but the play is neither explosive nor original. I longed for it to be more powerful, for it to say something new about growing up and about lost friendships, but like Walberswick itself the play seems to be rooted in niceness. Andrew Barron and Rosie Thompson cleverly play all the parents , yet I felt that the numerous scenes in which they appear just detracted from the main thrust of the story which was their sons' friendship. There was also, I thought, some unnecessary narration of the plot.

Still, ‘I Caught Crabs' is worth seeing for its sensitive depiction of teenage frustration and backwater life. And Foy and Hepple are two young actors to watch.

[David Scott]

04-Aug-2008

FOUR STARS ****

Adolescence is torrid at the best of times, but when your dad finds your porn collection on his work laptop, things can only get worse. For 16-year-old Wheeler and best-mate Fitz it's a signal to get out of town sharpish.

Fishing for crabs on the bridge at Walberswick, the boys are ambushed by Dani, "a definite ten." Hormones raging, the two boys jostle for "posh girl" Dani's attention, whooing her with promises of the "best club in Lowestoft" before beginning an ill-fated joy ride in a (nearly) stolen car.

After a mixed reaction to last year's black comedy, Stooped Fucken Animals, this is a faster, busier and more immediate effort from playwright Joel Horwood. And while there are certainly cracks-the constant narration is unnecessary and the ending predictable-the wit and energy of the script is infectious.

Horwood obviously knows his native Suffolk like the back of his hand and his subtle meditations on social class are nicely hidden behind the humour. He has also created some fantastic comic characters, from Fitz's agoraphobic father to Wheeler's painfully suburban parents and their mid life crises. Each are ably brought to life by the cast, particularly Harry Hepple as Wheeer and supporting actors Andrew Barron and Rosie Thomson.

Resembling a kind of Suffolk restaging of Y Tu Mamá También-albeit for the Skins generation-this is a honest yet charismatic return to form from a very talented playwright.

Sam Friedman

10-Sep-2008

FRESH from a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival comes an engaging tale about three teenagers coming of age.

The Eastern Angles' latest touring production, I Caught Crabs In Walberswick, is a different yet nonetheless interesting look at 24 life-changing hours for these young people.

Its first performance in Suffolk last night was staged at an appropriate venue - Ipswich Girls School in Woolverstone, and seemed to be well supported by its students, which helped to get into the youthful spirit of the play.

Written by 2007 Fringe First winner Joel Horwood, the script never fails to delight, with class lines you desperately attempt to recall later. Together with excellent direction from 26-year-old Lucy Kerbel, the play never loses pace.

Fitz and Wheeler are fishing for crabs in Walberswick when "posh totty" Dani turns up and the three embark on a night of madness, whereby they each learn something about themselves and are forced to tackle their own demons.

At the beginning, I was slightly distracted by the accents as some of the so-called Suffolk dialects do tend to stray a little however this is soon forgiven by all round good performances.

One of the most effective parts was the interspersed small scenes which showed the youngsters' parents and their own neuroses.

The comedy timing of both Andrew Barron and Rosie Thomson, who played all the different parental roles and narrated, shows off their acting experience, although both Gemma Soul (Dani) and Aaron Foy (Fitz) were convincing even though it was their debut performance.

Those wanting to see this should attend with an open mind and expect an edgy yet well-written play, which should be embraced for its appeal to a wider audience.

Naomi Cassidy