Another story of schoolmates dealing with puberty and their different desires, thisplay takes two friends from eight years old to sixteen. I wonder that being such great mates for such a long time that they had never been tempted to dabble together. Its a concern in a play which does not add a new insight into the situation, except to givethe girls some good scenes with graphic banter.
It starts (and ends) with the boys imagining their lives as a film as they prepareto jump off a symbolic cliff. Although there is reference to their friendship from eight, most of the play concentrates on their last year at school. Hormones surge as Cal moves into girls but Cam lacks enthusiasm to follow. A pity that Harvey John Wrightis not given more to do as Ben, the token martyred gay. Another character who intrigued was Tanisha whose gullibility deserved more time. Callum Henderson effectively portrayed Cam, the boy with the big new secret. Calum, Daniel Livingstone, was totally believableas a brash youngster flexing his growing power. Genevieve Lewis made Pippa dangerous fun while Jessica Reeve gave us the long-suffering Etta, showing little surprise when she is spurned by Cam.
The direction was efficient without much excitement, which reflects the production.Good, but they have a lot of competition which is making such dilemmas more gripping. I'm still not sure why its title is Banana Boys...
Derek Benfield