Boys

On the eve of the Scottish referendum, we went to see a Scottish play. No, not The Scottish Play, but one set in modern-day Edinburgh; called Boys, by Ella Hickson.

We went along as one of Nicola’s colleagues was in the play – she was also in The Cat’s Meow a few months ago. They’d organised a works outing to go see the play, so we met up and went out for dinner at Café Pasha beforehand, where we ate indifferent Turkish food. We then walked down to Gryphon Theatre, which was thankfully not far as the evening had turned decidedly rainy.

The play takes place in 24 hours at the end of the summer term in a student flat in Edinburgh, during a dustmen’s strike. The flat is shared by four boys, and two of their girlfriends are also in the play. As is usual in such pieces, there is a lot of development, lies, revelations and changes in the relationships of the characters as the day progresses.

By the end of the play some of the plotlines have been resolved, but many are just left hanging as the characters cannot realistically tie everything up into a neat little package. We never learn what happened to Benny’s brother; Do Sophie and Mack split up? Where will Timp live? What will Cam do now? It’s all a bit messy, a lot like life – there are no simple solutions. What started off as looking like a simple story about student life has broken down into a more meaningful examination of the loss of youth, and the compromises that make up adult life.

If that all sounds a bit dark and moody – well, some parts of it were. Other parts were laugh-out-loud funny, but the finale was a bit sombre. We thoroughly enjoyed it.