The Corpus Playroom can be quite a daunting venue when the audience is small. For Raindrops on a White Pear Blossom, it would be hard to say that there were 20 of us. I felt a little out of place, being quite possibly the only member of the audience not connected to the play. While for the odd outsider, this is daunting, it meant that for the members of the production there was a warm, supportive atmosphere which really allowed the play to shine.

Raindrops is part of the Corpus Playroom’s Blank Canvas series, a collection of three new plays in long-form by marginalised writers. Due to exam season, these plays take the shape of script-readings, rather than fully-produced performances. Nonetheless, as this evening proved, they can be engaging and well-acted.

“This scene also deftly handled the subtleties of abusive and toxic relationships”

Leo Lu’s play follows Evelyn (Ella Hardy) a young woman from the future who has accidentally time-travelled to her mother Lily’s youth (Adaya Brandon). Evelyn thinks it’s her responsibility to micro-manage every event leading up to her falling asleep and waking up in 2005. She holds herself equally responsible for her mother’s English lessons and the task of preventing the 7/7 terrorist attacks on London. Interweaved into this are Evelyn’s desperate attempts to convince her mother not to begin dating Brett (Noah Findell).

Despite the necessarily limiting form of the script-reading, Raindrops proves an engaging watch. Hardy, Brandon and Findell all give consistently strong performances. One particular vignette, wherein Evelyn is attempting to convince her mother not to fall for Brett, is particularly moving. Not only demonstrating a daughter’s genuine concern for her mother, this scene also deftly handled the subtleties of abusive and toxic relationships. Brett is not, in this version of the story, a cartoon monster sent to torment mother and daughter; his actions are far more complex and far more likely to go unnoticed.

“Many minor details could do with a bit more meditation”

The script itself is extremely promising, though it still requires some refinement before it is properly staged, as writer Leo Lu hopes for Michaelmas next year. Some of the conversation, especially the first few opening lines, feels a bit clunky. This is something that will likely be ironed out quite easily in performance, if not beforehand.

More importantly, the play needs more time and space to breathe. Many minor details could do with a bit more meditation; a sweeping reference to the ‘butterfly effect’ does not quite cover all the issues raised by the presence of time travel in the play. In fact, at times it would almost be easy to forget that Evelyn has come from the future. Her proleptic knowledge does reinforce her sense of displacement, but throwing in prior knowledge of the 2008 financial crash does not tick the box for “time travel covered”. Some acknowledgement of the philosophical implications would be helpful. How, for example, does it affect the future that Evelyn is there interfering in her mother’s life before Evelyn is born?

“While a little trimming and tidying up certainly will not go amiss, the core narrative is excellent”

As is often the case with works in progress, the play is still trying to do too much. Cutting is as necessary as expanding. In places, the play feels a bit hectic – perhaps best exemplified through the large clusters of small auxiliary props that add nothing to the narrative. In one scene, Lily comes on stage with three apples and two drink cartons, and they just remain on the side for the rest of the play. A little trimming – both in terms of props and narrative – will allow this play to shine to its full potential.

Raindrops on a White Pear Blossom promises to be an absolutely cracking watch once it is properly produced. While a little trimming and tidying up certainly will not go amiss, the core narrative is excellent. With a team as strong as the one performing tonight, it will certainly be hard not to see it done justice. As long as the bits that matter are given the time and space that they need to breathe, Leo Lu’s Raindrops will have the makings of a fascinating new voice in Cambridge theatre.