Care in the community. An odd phrase and one that, for most of us, now holds very specific conotations. But in Robert Holman's Bad Weather, though the phrase is never uttered, care in the community takes on quite another meaning - the care that people have for and of one another. Or even, the ability to care, period. Are we losing it? Bad Weather suggests we are, and that it can be regained, but at a cost.
A play of surrogate mommas and papas that sits fascinatingly beside the Other Place's other new play, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere, Holman takes enormous risks of fusion, dissolving barriers between the most unlikely of associates - deprived teenagers from Teesside, the down-trodden mother of one of them, an ex-con juror who falls for her when her son is imprisoned, and a sophisticated Frenchwoman.
Implausible maybe, yet it works. For Holman, sometimes prone to over-sentimentalising, also has such real heart and care for his characters that we, in our turn, come also to care desperately for these unlikely intimates and how they will negotiate their way to a recognition of their shared humanity.
A play then, corny but moving, of redemption through love, Steve Pimlott's beautifully paced, watchful RSC production boasts three brazen portraits of youthful despair in the performances of Paul Popplewell, Emma Handy, and Ryan Pope, wonderfully matched by Susan Brown's emotionally damaged Kay, Barry Stanton as her male ballast scorched by his own instincts, and Susan Engel's mesmerisingly dangerous Agnes - bridge-builder, honest broker, disciplinarian, and ultimately unlikely lover to the most aggressive of the young tearaways. A true gem.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article