Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Annabel Annan-Jonathan, Jacob Beswick, Joseph Adelakun, Grace Willis.

Is anybody truly whole? That is the question bought to the Unity Theatre by the combined efforts of 20 Stories High, Director Julia Samuels and a host of others in what can only be described as distressingly real, wonderfully charged and written and acted with so much passion and brilliance that not only is Whole one of the finest things you are likely to see this year but it will also leave you grasping at thoughts of those you may have wronged at school.

Written by Philip Osment, Whole deals with the idea and themes of teenage sexuality and the fallout of when different worlds collide and how it effects the confused and easily targetable. Told from the perspective of three friends and the young girl that ties them emotionally all together, the narrative at times is exceptionally harsh, accomplished story-telling and most importantly brutally and remarkably honest.

It is a lot to ask of young actors to relive parts of their formative lives once more, especially for some what could have been pivotal in how they turn out later in life but in Annabel Annan-Jonathan, Jacob Beswick, Joseph Adelakun and Grace Willis the team behind 20 Stories High found a cast that was charming, engaging and just incredible at getting the teenage angst and sincere emotions across.

The considerable tension in the air underlined the seriousness of the performance. The outward hardiness and mental fragility that the four actors bought to the performance was astonishing and had the audience gasping at the way friendships can form and what happens when they go sour. All this made it impossible to draw attention to any particular actor as they all performed with aplomb but a special mention must be made to Grace Willis who drove the action and the early sympathy with her brittle and tenuous grasp on her life.

Simply amazing!

Ian D. Hall