Live Theatre Newcastle – until Sunday 18th December 2022
Reviewed by Sandra Little
3***
Wishes on the Wind is a delightful short play currently showing at Live Theatre. This play, described as “a tender romantic comedy”is performed by two young local actors. Caitlin Barber from North Shields plays the part of Samantha and Luke Hammond from Walker plays the part of Charlie. The storyline essentially revolves around the events of five New Years Eve’s and in particular the annual village ceilidh. The performance is also interspersed with a range of foot tapping songs. Both the play and the music were written by Benjamin Storey whose writing skills were developed through Live Theatre’s talent development programme and this is Benjamin’s full length Live Theatre debut.
Throughout the play there are numerous references to social media including Tinder and Instagram. We learn early in the story that Samantha is quite obsessed with numbers of followers on Instagram and the image she presents there. However we soon realise that there are two very distinctive aspects to Samantha’s life; there is the fantasy world of Instagram and the realities of her life that Samantha has to acknowledge. Meanwhile we learn that Charlie has to grapple with the differences between the reality of his life and the life he would like to lead. Charlie loses his job, has no money, looks on Tinder for girlfriends and lives with his parents but he wants to be a successful musician!
As the story unfolds, the superficial, trivial and humorous aspects of this play are mixed with more serious issues that both characters have to face. Samantha in particular is forced to face the stark reality of her life. However it must be said that this story also includes tender, touching and quite amusing dialogue. I particularly enjoyed the worry lists included in the dialogue; they illustrated the different levels each character’s life was operating on and are a great mix of the trivial and the serious. I also enjoyed the way in which Charlie and Samantha’s relationship developed; it was lighthearted for much of the play but was also quite tender in places without being overly sentimental.
I thoroughly enjoyed this performance and would seriously recommend it to any 15 year old who is currently stressing about their lives and the lives of their peers as presented through social media. Whilst being a light hearted production, this play does raise questions about the impact of social media on our lives.
Before Wishes on the Wind begins there is a short play of about 10 minutes called Secret Santa, written by Alison Scurfield and performed by Brogan Gilbert (Christie) and Jackie Lye (Margaret).This play, set on Christmas Eve revolves around food and wine for W I members, lesbianism and a gift that Christie hopes will be accepted!