REVIEW: Desmond’s Scared of the Smoking Sea by Tommy Sissons at Jack Studio Theatre 22-25 August 2023

‘In a very short play, Sissons is eminently successful in conveying remarkable pathos’ ★★★★

Tommy Sissons’ wonderful new play, ‘Desmond’s Scared of the Smoking Sea’, is an example of first-class theatre focused on working-class, lived experience in Britain today. In this, it feels miles away from what has become typified as modern British theatre, that is, a playground for well-funded, established theatre companies, making work by and for middle-class audiences. This production is the product of a team intimately familiar with the subject matter. The result is dense, quick, funny dialogue and rounded characters with complicated inner worlds.

Alex Miller de Luis is engaging as the credulous Desmond, though something about the way the character twists his shirt in his hands is suggestive of an eleven- or twelve-year-old child, rather than a fifteen-year-old teenager. These are boys who have been instituted in a Pupil Referral Unit to address their Special Educational Needs and the play is keen to make us aware of the disparity between the characters reading age and their actual age. I suspect Desmond’s physicality is an attempt to showcase this, however in so doing the production misses the opportunity to demonstrate how the bluster and bravado of a teenage boy can belie tremendous vulnerability and a need for safety and support.

Tyler Kinghorn as Wiggy delivers a performance that is exceptional in its energy and commitment. The real strength of this production is in the details, the unspoken moments between characters and the poignancy of what is left unsaid. The cheeky exchange of a school tie between the two boys seemed, to me, a nod to the possibility for caring and supportive friendships between young men and boys, which is in reality so often suppressed. Elsewhere, Sarah Gain as Donna emulates a weary, benevolent SEN teacher with warmth and authenticity. In a very short play, Sissons is eminently successful in conveying remarkable pathos; in particular, a quiet final scene is as devastating as it is simple. In her role as director and set designer, Aoife Scott makes bold, slightly surreal choices that work well.

A simple but arresting set conveys the traditional school experience – we can almost smell the chalk dust rising from Jack Ambrose’s illustrations. Likewise, the way in which student information is highlighted, or rather, condensed down, as part of the scenery, effectively demonstrates both how the boys are categorised by their institution but also, importantly, how they see themselves.

Desmond’s Scared of the Smoking Sea

Jack Studio Theatre, 22-25 August 2023

Creative Team:

Written by Tommy Sissons

Directed by Aoife Scott

Set Design by Aoife Scott

Illustrator Jack Ambrose

Lighting Design by Darwin Hennessy

Produced by Kitchen Revolt

Cast: 

Desmond:     Alex Miller de Luis

Wiggy:          Tyler Kinghorn

Donna:          Sarah Gain

@TommySissons

Reviewed by Natalie Mckinnon