A BRIGHT-eyed cast of teenagers greeted me when I popped in on the Queanbeyan Bicentennial Hall for a rehearsal of Echo Youth’s coming play, “This Changes Everything”, opening soon at The Q. 

The script is by in-demand English playwright Joel Horwood, not to be confused with The Q’s marketing manager and trained actor Joel Horwood – exactly the same name.

“This Changes Everything” was written in 2015 to give meaty roles to young women. Although originally written for an all-female cast, Horwood has said that groups staging the play could easily cast male actors if working with a mixed-gender cast.

Director Jordan Best is adamant that Horwood displays none of the condescension often seen when adults write for and about young people, saying: “It is not the case of a grown-up writing about teenagers, it enters thoroughly into the feeling of being in a group of young people who want to change the future.

“It’s not cringy, there’s no love interest and there won’t be any swearing.

“It’s a group of smart, politically and socially engaged young people fed up with the way the world is running, wanting to make it a better place.”

“This Changes Everything” was written for 20 speaking roles, but Horwood wrote it so that, with doubling, it can be performed by a minimum of 16 actors. Best has 18 people in the cast, aged 13-19.

Horwood places little emphasis on gender in the writing, she says, but in fact she has only two male cast members, including her son Will, who has also composed the moody musical score, following in the footsteps of his famous film-composer grandfather, Peter Best.

“Although what happens could happen with adults, it makes sense to cast the play with young people because this is their future,” Best says.

“It’s one thing for people to be frightened, but when young people say they don’t want to have children and that they can’t face the future, that’s a horrible thing to hear.” 

So how do you change the world? In this case, the group of young people decide to simply vanish off the radar and on to what looks like an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea. 

“It’s not ‘Lord of the Flies’, not so horrible, but it is a microcosm of the world and it is an attempt to create a utopia, where stuff happens,” Best says.

The play begins with “The Community” of young people living by three codes: The Community is the individual and the individual is The Community; we all work to make this place; and there are no bad answers.

“As the play goes on, the codes change, a bit like ‘Animal Farm’,” says Best.

While at the rehearsal, I saw a scene where three friends, Alva, Kim, and Klara, have uncovered the location of The Community and, having made it to the platform, they want to join. 

But the cracks are already beginning to show, The founder has vanished and one of the members is excommunicated for her negativity, leading to a poignant reiteration of the first slogan. 

“The characters are so well-drawn; Joel Horwood has written such smart speech patterns that give them such a voice… it’s joyous, it’s 100 per cent hopeful, but there’s plenty of cut and thrust – it’s very clever writing,” says Best.

“This Changes Everything”, The Q, July 22-30. 

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