Cockroach

There is a constant battle going on in the classroom as a teacher tries to impart knowledge against a background of pupil disruption. There is a constant battle going on in adolescence as teenagers try to come to terms with the hormones raging within. And outside in the wider world a real battle is being fought - an eternal war in time and place that involves violent bloodshed and will cut down a generation of young men. This is the backdrop of Cockroach by Sam Holcroft, a new writer whose work has caught the attention and direction of Vicky Featherstone from the National Theatre of Scotland.
It is an amazingly complex and crafted play, that covers many themes - perhaps too many themes. Underlying everything is the biology lesson - the explanation of basic drives and imperatives that ensure that the individual who has best adapted to the environment will survive. As has the cockroach. It is not the biggest, fittest cockroach which has successfully evolved, but the flattest, able to crawl into larders. And so it would seem with Man, plugged into his animalistic aggressive nature. The weak man will prevail, and the women will have his babies. There is a scientific explanation for the politics of war and gender.
There are stunning performances from the cast, who played some of the children in Vicky Featherstone’s Festival play 365. Laura McMonagle as Danielle has a key role. Her beauty “torments” Davey (Ryan Fletcher), making him jealous and violent. There is also a suggestion she may “torment” or be tormented by her stepfather - she is always reluctant to go home, preferring sandwiches in the classroom to an evening meal. Tortured by this strange female power her suggested solution is shocking and radical. But from her anguish comes evolution: “I am more. More than mother. More than making babies. More than keeping peace. Man.”
Frances Ashman is Mmoma, the clever girl without a boyfriend in a world short of boys. She has a marvellous scene of whimsy and fantasy, playing out her dreams with a “soldier” made from a rigged up bloodied uniform. Beth the teacher (Meg Fraser) makes believable the whole play with her matter of fact approach to teaching, teenagers, and sorting out bloody uniforms from the Great War, the Just War, the war that no-one questions.
It says a lot for the play that although it is too long it had few moments of longeur. Rather, there was too much to take on board, and for that reason the play would benefit from some judicious pruning. The language and tone of the play was natural and well-balanced and the characters well-defined and believable. A very, very commendable play from a talented newcomer.
Traverse Theatre until November 1st.