Portsmouth Grammar School Simon Gray Prize 2011

Many congratulations to Peter Rapp, who has won the Simon Gray prize at Portsmouth Grammar School for 2011. The prize is awarded to a student at Simon Gray's alma mater who has demonstrated particular achievement in English or Drama. Here is one Peter's reviews from the past year:

Shadow of a Boy – A Review

By Pete Rapp 

Gary Owens’ play “Shadow of a Boy” is the story of a boy’s attempts to find his place in the world, with the help of the Shadow, his imaginary friend. Under the direction of Benji Sperring, the play is touching, funny and moving all in one.

“This planet is not fit to join the Galactic League of Civilisations.” The Shadow has come to Earth to investigate and decide whether it is fit to join said league, with the help of 11-year old Luke, who is very worried about starting at the local comp. The Shadow needs to gather information about life on Earth, its people, and its environment, whilst helping Luke decipher his place in life. He also teaches Luke about the impending destruction of Earth, and while doing so gets everyone in Luke’s life to reveal their true feelings, desires, and ultimately, their true selves.

Luke lives with his Nana after the death of his parents, and Katie (a girl who lives nearby) wants to initiate him into things at the comp. Katie is very harsh towards Luke, at times taking him to the verge of tears for fun, but however vulnerable Luke seems as an orphan, he never buckles to her taunts, which shows the audience how strong he really is, beneath it all – it really helps the audience to get behind him when he hits a challenge, and it definitely makes him very normal and relatable as a character. As the play goes on, Luke gets strong and more confident to speak up, and tells people to the truth about what he is thinking – a real change from the shy little boy who mumbles his words we saw at the beginning of the play.

Katie, however, undergoes a different transition. She goes from the cruel, sexually-focused girl we see at the start of the play to a girl whom, underneath the tough outer shell, is scared of real life and insecure about her own existence as well. Luke, after the Shadow helps him to say what he really thinks, tells her about the oncoming destruction of the Earth, and we see Katie go from teasing Luke to asking to see him for comfort in the middle of the night.

It is testament to Luke becoming a changed boy when he decides that, instead of staying with Katie in the night, he returns home to his Nana, who is worried sick at his twilight absence, which causes Katie to look to the Shadow for a companion. As she walks off with him, he rounds off the play with a resounding summary of his existence: “I’m not meant for this. I’m just a trick of the light.” He has, by way of aggression balanced with understanding humanity, led everyone to reveal their true selves.

The play is very open to interpretation, and will really make you think about your life, and the mysteries of humanity and also life itself. I would highly recommend it.