Little Fools at The Space

You can’t choose your family. It’s a phrase that has lost its meaning with endless repetition. But what happens when a person has to try? To choose what to believe and what to ignore? To protect your family or their victims? These are the questions Little Fools asks of its audience.

Inspired by the true story of an Australian family torn apart by allegations against a husband, father and Member of Parliament – which stained not only the perpetrator but all those associated with him – Little Fools is set in London, with sisters April (Holly Kellingray) and Harri (Brooke Jones) at the centre. The pair haven’t always seen eye-to-eye, especially when it comes to their dad. They have separate lives with their own friends and relationships, but as the truth emerges about a past in which they’re implicated, how will they react?

The piece doesn’t restrict itself to this central drama, though, exploring the separate lives of the characters too. Harri and boyfriend Charlie (Tom Hamblin) are a normal couple who worry about finding a parking space and getting out of the house on time, while April confides her obsession with local barista in friend Nathan (Elijah Khan), and later chastises him for his alternative lifestyle.

While this adds humour, light relief and fleshes out these sisters as people, in a piece that only has an hour to play with, it does limit the time available to explore the central theme. It ultimately creates a slightly abrupt ending, leaving the fascinating topic of how the characters react and wrestle with their own consciences after the story breaks under-explored.

The work’s poetry is wonderful, however. Its winding, soaring rhythms and rhyme ensure that a play with a small cast and simple staging (essentially an old, battered red leather sofa) always maintains its momentum. Similarly stunning are the performances, especially from central duo – and writer-directors – Holly Kellingray and Brooke Jones.

Little Fools is beautiful, smart and bold. But it attempts slightly too much and as a result spends more time exquisitely asking its questions than it does exploring answers to them.

Will Almond

Little Fools is at The Space from 25^th September until 29^th September 2018. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.