We are in a children’s care home.The kids have had far too much sugar and too little sleep.She, the responsible adult, isn’t there.How long they’ve been there is unclear both to the audience and the kids themselves. Pink, a student-written one act-piece performed at Homerton this weekend, seems fuelled by sugar. Petty bickering about who stole what sweets barely hides the abuse they are facing. Set designer Rosie Skan’s decision to cover the floor with paper is striking as the frustrated and sugar-crazed children gradually rip the set apart.

Tania Clarke’s script is cleverly crafted and very ambitious. The child-abuse is revealed through speeches that are distorted by children who don’t quite recognise what is happening. The lack of a traditional narrative structure and recognizable surroundings takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, it really works. The script is at its most successful when it is brought down to a completely mundane level. When Allie (Rhianna Frost), complains that they don’t have the right colours for painting the raindrops on the window, it is harrowing.

However, negotiating the highs and lows that come with a sugar rush, can be difficult. The strength and volume of the emotions confined within this small space can become messy and sometimes dominates the subtleties of the script. This tendency to overact is probably due to opening-night excitement, but at times the characters almost become caricatures.It is when the cast learn to rely on emotional subtleties that they really come in to their own. Mollie, played by Sarah Mercer, is most striking when she learns how to suppress her emotions. George Longworth’s childish glee as he swears at the audience is absolutely delightful. Tris Hobson plays little Michael with intense physicality, yet it is in his display of affection for the completely silent April (Kay Dent) that we really get a feel for his character. April’s silence however, would have been more effective had we been allowed to hear it. Allie’s naïve stories of aquarium visits and water colouring, say more than any tantrum can. Freddie, played by Carn Truscott, is a quiet child and his poignant reflections on the world outside the window are a pleasure to listen too.

Pink is an emotionally demanding play. Its surreal and intense nature might not be for everyone, yet it succeeds in revealing something extremely uncomfortable yet very human. 

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