Review – The Olympians
Review by Andreea Helen David.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the premiere of The Olympians, a Eye Opening Theatre Company production.
The Olympians is a coming of age play, set in Britain 1979, about 4 teenager athletes preparing to qualify for the Olympics. But that is not what the play is actually about. Through our characters we find 4 symbols of our societal issues that unfold during the play and remind us that not all is what it seems.
This is a splendid effort by a young theatre company that is passionate about getting the mess out from under the rug. It is a very brave move to do an expose on such problems as xenophobia and many more but I’ll let you discover those by yourself.
The play is written by Beatrice Ragea, a young Romanian actress and writer and co-founder of the Eye Opening Theatre Company. Beatrice really was the glue of the show and her emotions were so clear. It is a real talent to be able to act, write and educate with a gentle touch. There’s nothing more patronizing than to be lectured on issues we all know or deal with everyday, but the team Ioana Goga, Jonathan Sollo, Jez Davezz Humphrey, manage to make it believable and empathetic.
They are young and it shows, but they are the sort of people we want in our theatre world.
Tour performances: 28 Sept Arthur Cottrell Theatre – Kingston college (closed performance for students and staff), 1 Oct Tara Arts 7.30pm, 7 Oct King’s Head Theatre.