Award-winning playwright Ed Edwards wrote this piece specifically for Mark Thomas after a chance meeting; and boy does it show. Thomas is a South London born hard-hitting stand-up comedian known for his outspoken political stance.
The production follows the life of a promising young boy, coincidentally with the surname “England”, raised in a lawless family that, after a major tragedy, inevitably sees him enter a juvenile detention centre, part of Prime Minister’ Margaret Thatcher’s “short, sharp shock” approach.
He is then set firmly on the wrong path, casting aside all the promise he had in favour of a life of crime, passing over the one chance he is given by a former social worker Martha.
Thomas’s performance is quite simply stunning, throwing all he has at this challenging role.
On at the Stephen Joseph Theatre Thursday November 9th
