King's Head Theatre
Playing until 1st September 2024
Review {AD-PR Gifted}
When Ken (Neil Ashton) picks up Rory (Cormac Hyde-Corrin), a young hitchhiker on his way to Blackpool for a “job interview, Ken’s life is thrown into dismay as they stop by Ken’s home, which he recently inherited from his late father. Upon arriving, Ken quickly realised that his house was ransacked and immediately concluded that this was done by his aunt Ivy (Sarah Moyle).
This production glimpses into how Ken lived his life under his father’s roof and what led to his departure and estrangement from his family, rooted in Ken’s homosexuality and his family’s religious beliefs. Given Ken’s background, including his suspension from his job, shed light into the way he behaves. Ashton captures Ken’s nervousness and fidgety behaviour well, and clearly showcases to the audience a character on edge and denies Rory’s every approach.
Ken’s character is contrasted by Rory’s, who is confident and despite his young age is exceptionally street smart. Making his stage debut, Hyde-Corrin commands the stage with confident swagger, knows what he could do to get away with things and acts on his instincts without caring about the consequences. Following Alex Jackson’s directions, Hyde-Corrin has, on more than one occasion, showed suggestive physical intimacy with Ashton as attempt to spur him on. These interactions are filled with tension, highlighting Ken’s hesitation as he pulls away from Rory at the last second.
Aunt Ivy is full of comedic punchlines and act as a plot delivery centrepiece, communicating the reasons why Ken moved away and why he was not accepted by his family. To this end, Moyle captures the essence of a lovable and at the same time, irritating elderly aunt that exists in most families.
Just like Ken’s feelings toward Rory, Ivy’s intentions aren’t clear, is she just a greedy relative that is after the house and all the contents in it, or does she harbour resentment toward Ken and does she treasure the memories she had growing up in the house now owned by Ken? The likelihood is, Ivy may have been a personification of all three and is simply a very grey character. However, unlike Ken and Rory’s relationship, it would be beneficial to make Ivy’s intentions more explicit as this part of the story does not need to be left to interpretation given the roles she plays in this story.
Although Aunt Ivy claims that Ken is smitten with the young Rory, the behaviour Ken shows could be interpreted as just that on the surface, but it could also be a projection of a fatherly figure that he might have liked to see from his own father. While it is appreciated the script intends to leave much to interpretation and certainly is intriguing to think about what might have happened to the three characters following the conclusion of the play, there are pacing issues. A significant amount of time is spent at the petrol station where Ken picked up Rory, and beyond building some early foundations for these two characters’ traits and that Rory is taking drugs, it serves little additional purpose and could be stripped back to accelerate into and expand the core of the story, which takes place inside the house where they end up.
Northbound Boy provides a meaningful exploration into the perception of homosexuality, how these differ between generations and the impact it could have on an individual and their family by extension. The creatives have done a commendable job in developing a story that is open for much interpretation that allows the plot to take a myriad of directions. However, despite the strengths described, the story would benefit from refinements, looking into which particular elements should be more prescribed and what would be better to leave open.
Creatives
Writer: James Hogan
Director: Alex Jackson
Set and Costume Design: Cory Shipp
Lighting Design: Sherry Coenen
Producer: Peter Darney
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