Wasted, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, May 21 (From The Argus)

Wasted, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton, May 21

12:03pm Tuesday 22nd May 2012 in Festival Reviews By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter

"The only way people can destroy you is if you let them make you become something else." So read a small flyer handed out to people on the way in to see Wasted at Brighton's Pavilion Theatre.

This was a play about a pivotal day in the lives of Ted, Danny and Charlotte - three friends from south London who ask questions about the meaning of life.

In many ways it summed up the helplessness that many 20-somethings feel: big ideas, rubbish job, limited purpose, little hope. Their escape is friendship, alcohol and the odd pill taken at a rave in a warehouse while twirling a glow stick.

But what could have been a run-of-the-mill play was transcended by the clever interwoven wordplay by writer and performance poet Kate Tempest. Acerbic and alliterative, this was the sound of the street on stage.

When all three of the performers were on stage, scripted sentences with a rhythmic bouncing beat were divided between them. Words such as “something”, “home”, and “wasted” received extra emphasis as these were key to the story.

The use of cordless microphones and strip lighting added to the feel that this was the grimey hip-hop underworld known as life to many.

At times there was some hesitancy from the trio of actors in getting the correct rhythm. But all in all it was an exciting performance of a play that could be put on a platform of life in 21st century inner cities.