STAGE REVIEWFOR a subtle and original tale, look no further than The Button Box performed by Invent Theatre, which is now touring the Island.
This play is remarkable in many ways — not only is it a thought-provoking night of entertainment, but it was written and directed by 18-year-old Jack Whitewood and the entire theatre company is aged 20 or under.
These Island youngsters have done everything, including create the set; do the artwork, photography and publicity and even successfully apply for grants and organise the moving, setting-up and other logistics of a touring show.
The Button Box follows the lives of three brothers, one of which meets a storytelling traveller.
Together they decide to open a bookshop, yet it doesn’t stock Shakespeare or Dickens, but books written by the brothers about local characters and all sorts of situations arise.
Alex Turner is strangely other-worldly as the accordion-playing traveller Albert Button, while Alex Welsford gives an excellent performance as the thoughtful middle brother, Benjamin Teak.
I thought Elisa Jones was good fun as spaghetti-loving mother Edith Teak and Jess Rann convinced me she was much older as well-spoken friend Lucia Ravapotti.
Bill Holland conveys a sense of jealousy well as elder brother Edmund Teak, and I thought 13-year-old David Jowitt managed the long speeches of younger brother Jack Teak well.
The cast is completed by Holly Roberts as the likeable waitress Jenny Penny.
The Button Box will be performed at Bembridge Village Hall tomorrow (Saturday), at Whitwell Vill-age Hall next Saturday, July 11, and at Trinity Theatre, Cowes, on Saturday, July 18.
Reporter: katey@iwcpmail.co.uk