Bad Lads
Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol
★★★★

GRAEAE THEATRE COMPANY’s simple yet telling account of one boy’s harrowing experiences inside the infamous Medomsley Youth Detention Centre is based on the testimonies of former inmates haunted by the abuse they had to endure.

For over 25 years, until the late ’80s, the prison for young male offenders was sanctioned to carry out its “short, sharp shock” sentences where verbal, physical and sexual cruelty became the norm. Humiliation and fear kept the inmates silent while locals and medics remained mute to the violence on show.

It was not until 1990, with the testimony of 1,800 former inmates, when seven of the staff were finally brought to court and sentenced, although the trial did not satisfy many or silence the demands for justice.

Mike Kenny’s play uses three versions of one inmate, Jackie, sentenced to three months for joy-riding a milk float while under the influence of magic mushrooms. His older self (Danny Raynor), still traumatised 40 years on, is faced with reliving the nightmare after a 2013 request from the police (Operation Seabrook). The initially carefree, 17-year-old Jackie (Robin Paley Yorke) undergoes the horrific, life-changing experience, while the third member of the trio is the signing Performance Interpreter embodiment of Jackie (Craig Painting), visually communicating much of the individual’s emotional turmoil.

Director Jenny Sealey skilfully combines the three actors, and the imaginative (but not distracting) projections of their northern-inflected words to create a unified sense of the individual’s traumatic journey. Sometimes echoing or mirroring each other’s words and movements, and at other times contrasting to show the personal conflict, the actors generate a sense of the internal and external world of one man haunted by the past.

The devastating narrative of a young man ripped from his home and community to endure 90 days of physical and sexual abuse extending well beyond the prison walls and its repercussions is strikingly relevant to the grooming gang inquiry dominating our press at the moment.

With the tacit acceptance of the authorities at the time, and the trauma still faced by the victims needing some sort of closure with many of those involved still going unchallenged, the two scars on our justice system are as raw as ever.

On tour until November 15. For tickets and venues see: graeae.org.