This is not a review. I don’t write reviews. But I do try to stick to the “no spoiler” convention. But, this time, I won’t. So please stop here if you don’t want to know what happens in the final third of the play.
Punk Rock is brilliantly directed and performed.
But I wish I hadn’t seen the last two scenes. I wish they’d been edited from the play. I wish the behavior they present was edited from life. And, on this last point, I’m not sure who’d disagree.
I wish I had read a spoiler before I’d seen Punk Rock.
The play raises questions like “Why do people commit horrific acts of violence?” and “How can horrific acts of violence be prevented?” It’s said that it’s not a playwright’s duty to supply answers.
It is, however, mine.
So here we go:
Question: Why do people commit horrific acts of violence?
Answer: They do evil who have evil done to them.
Question: How can horrific acts of violence be prevented?
Answer: Don’t commit any violence yourself. (And lobby for greater gun control.)
Question: Glib and simplistic?
Answer: Let’s try it and find out.
And I think that’s what the play says (though not the bit about the gun control; at least not overtly).
pantsguys’ production of Simon Stephens’ play is harrowing. I wanted to walk out. I dislike violence on stage. But I prefer it there to anywhere else. And this play says, in no uncertain terms, let it stop here.
Veronica Kaye
Punk Rock
season extended til 18 Aug
http://www.atyp.com.au/under-the-wharf/productions/punk-rock
Theatre Red 
Leave a Reply