Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Alex Kingston, Margot Leicester, Sarah Hadland, Andrew Woodall, Ben Edelman.
We want the world to be a fairer place, the new demand for the 21st Century has to be in keeping with the way we reject the old established ways of doing things, the future is not all about the stereotypical white male view point that history has been defined by, it is about the best person being able to tell the story, regardless of creed, colour, orientation and gender. However, we also want the very best for our children, we arguably will sacrifice our noble intentions if it means we will look back on the moment in which they reach their potential with pride.
It is not hypocrisy, just a frank series of Admissions to which we are all guilty of, we will fight the good fight to see quotas established, to give everyone the opportunity, but we will also not sacrifice a single chance to see our children succeed, and that is the point of being parents; the only problem with that is our children are not stupid, we may believe we have everything in hand, but in the end they call us out, sometimes with pain, sometimes with an underlying sense of unknown twisted pleasure that explodes our unregistered duplicity to ourselves.
Joshua Harmon’s insightful, openly sarcastic, scornful, but beautifully honest reflected tale of a young man, played with the sincerest of abounding energy by Ben Edelman, coming to terms with his parent’s wishes and the confrontation of example that has been installed into him by his liberal parents as they maintain outwardly standards to which is laudable and right. The world is not fair, and by making a choice in the aftermath of a disappointing set-back in his academic career, he is thrust into a world where fairness is replaced by reality, where noble intention is aghast at the thought of being held accountable by expectation.
With the formidable Alex Kingston and Andrew Woodall giving a masterclass in intense emotion and reflected with absolute brilliance by Mr. Edelman, Admissions is the perfect play in which to look into your own heart and defy personal satisfaction in the march to dispense with a past which has straight-jacketed us to a system of unwarranted conformity.
Blistering, funny, honest, a frank admission of guilt surfacing and how we deal with it when all we want is to see our family succeed.
Ian D. Hall