Rucker’s play doesn’t have too much to say that is new or original in all honesty but its structure means that it takes a while for this to emerge and in the telling, it does fitfully engage. We start at the end, in the aftermath of a teen suicide and with the help of a journalist who has a book deal, we work backwards to discover the detail of a tragic tale of class conflict and jealousy in which the mothers are as much to blame as the daughters whose initially bright friendship becomes soured.
It is well performed to be sure – Lucy Roslyn’s conflicted journalist chasing the scoop but running from her own demons, the casual cruelty of bullies Mia and Jenna well essayed by Pearl Mackie and Tiana Khan, the tragic note of Rebecca Boey’s Hayley’s desperation truly affecting. But though the problems and horrible ease of online bullying are illuminated here, nothing else is, no possible solution or real insight emerges to accompany it and make it a play really worth listening to.