Review: Common People

We’ve been to the 1920s and the dystopian future of 1485A.E. as part of SAND [St Andrews New Drama], but Alice Shearon’s latest play takes us to a place we are more familiar with: a good university, albeit in the 90s rather than 2014. Set at a fictional university – essentially a blend of St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge – Shearon takes the issue of all sorts of prejudice, particularly that of class and heritage, among students and runs with it.

Much of the writing was sharply humourous, perfectly exemplified in Jonathon’s, the posh fool of the production, astounded question of “what sort of schools don’t teach Latin?”. It was in Jonathon’s multiple misguided exclamations that Shearon’s ear for comedy became particularly apparent. Whilst I’d like to think that the script wasn’t just solely built on what can be seen on ‘Overheard in St Andrews’, the writing was believable enough for this to have been the case. The inclusion of a scene in which Professor Greenaway, Brendan’s tutor, mentioned the ‘benefits’ of growing up in a class other to that those surround you have grown up in was, despite the dialogue erring on the side of expository, a nod to the inherency of class divisions. This allowed the play to exist not as a piece simply critical of the actions of individuals but also ingrained institutional issues.

A self-referential, quirky play, Common People managed not only to deal with the issue of privilege sensitively, but also played around with the form: we were essentially always aware we were watching a play allowing Shearon to comment on the nature of theatre, meaning that audience members were explicitly lead to consider their own privileges and how they act upon them, a clever move. Although this breaking of the fourth wall was refreshing and generally well done, there were moments which felt superfluous – for instance in which Brendan mentioned there should be an interval – and these occasionally jarred with the production.

In terms of the acting, it was generally good with Steven Quinn turning in a central performance as Brendan P. Quigley (great name!), which created a character with whom the audience wanted to empathise and was happy to follow through his story. Hannah Raymond-Cox, although a little prone to unnecessarily shrill shouting, was sincere as the love interest (although that title reduces her into far less of a character than she was) of the characters of the play. The standout performer, however, was Olly Lennard who as Jonathon was pitch-perfect as an utterly unaware upper-class student. The characterisation of Jonathon, down to the red trousers, was excellent, testament to Lennard’s skill combined with Shearon’s direction. The supporting cast too turned in believable performances, allowing the world of the university to come to life with old stuffy professors and JSAs completing the picture.

The twist of the production – which of course cannot be revealed here – seemingly came out of nowhere, and there was an utter change in tone which was handled well both by the cast and the writing itself. Whilst I think the scene subsequent to this twist’s revelation could have been handled with a little more subtlety, the plot here provided an interesting way to consider how it is the perception of privilege that can, in some instances, be more damaging than the privilege itself, an unexpected observation.

As a first year in St Andrews, seeing Common People made me wish I had been in the town to see Shearon’s previous play, and has certainly made me eagerly anticipate her next piece of writing.

The Stand is not using star ratings for plays that go up as part of SAND.