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Holloway Jones was first performed in 2011 and toured to schools and pupil referral units. It's therefore an ideal option to explore with school students. While the original cast had six or seven people, the play has a chorus which could allow for a bigger cast if needed. The chorus acts in a similar way to a Greek chorus, acting as bystanders to the action. This allows you as a teacher to explore with a class or a group of students the different ways in which non-naturalistic theatre devices, such as a chorus, can be used to have an impact on an audience. At the start of the script, the playwright provides a useful note on punctuation – he says that it is left up to the director's discretion as to what punctuation might mean. As a result, it's sometimes difficult to decipher when a pattern doesn't seem evident, but it provides plenty of scope for discussion in the classroom.
The play is about a teenage girl called Holloway Jones, who is in foster care in London and is training to be part of the BMX Olympic team. Her mother is currently in prison. While the plot may be simple and often predictable, it makes it easy to explore with a class of students and does not take away from the play's ability to provoke conversation, particularly in the way the ensemble and chorus can be explored and utilised in performance.
Language
The language in the play at times is almost poetic, particularly with its use of rap and rhyme. The stage directions that accompany much of this style of language are very physical, allowing the cast to explore the way physical theatre can be used to enhance meaning and creat a dynamic performance. It could, therefore, be a good option to explore with performing arts students across a range of disciplines.
There is also an opportunity to explore how multimedia can be used in productions to help communicate meaning, which will be particularly useful for those students who are more technically inclined. The switches between characters and locations are quick and snappy and allows the play to move rapidly through time, in a similar fashion to Blood Brothers. These transitions could be useful as an explorative tool in class, looking at how transitions can be done effectively, a skill many students lack when working on their own scripts.
Chorus
The chorus act in the Greek style, by asking questions and making the audience question what is happening in the central plot. It would be worth unravelling the questions they pose as Holloway's subtext, creating off-script improvisations and offering up counter-narratives to explore.
Plot
The themes at the heart of Holloway Jones will be relevant to a teenage audience. Holloway meets a boy called Avery, who we quickly discover is bad news. As the play develops, things start to unravel for Holloway. At the centre of the play, there is a transitional scene that captures her shift into someone different. This is achieved by the chorus transforming her clothes into a new style, set in a nightclub over a number of years. Within this sequence there is a violent mugging scene.
Holloway's toxic relationship with Avery captures the manipulation that a vulnerable or non-vulnerable young person may find themselves under. Holloway is completely taken in by Avery and the gifts he gives her and the words he says. Her journey tells an important story of choosing oneself.
Stage directions
The stage directions throughout the play are in an unusual format, with the playwright making suggestions rather than directions. A character may become a nurse, but this is suggested as a choice rather than as an order. These stage directions are detailed and allow the reader to fully visualise the world the playwright wants to create, which is particularly useful for discussing the playwright's intentions with a class.
While it may not have the same brilliance of Evan Placey's earlier work, Girls Like That, there is plenty here to explore and there's an edge to the piece that will provoke interesting discussions with the right age group.
nickhernbooks.co.uk/holloway-jones