The Playwrights Intentions & How They Impact On The Play

This play was part of a project to create plays for young people that were in the headlines and this one was based on violent crimes. The play makes people think about what leads young people to commit crimes, how these can be prevented and also how these young people should be punished. ( From Production Notes ) (Source 3)

I think the playwright (Davey Anderson) wanted to make people think about how even though you could have done bad things in the past you can still stand up and make your future better. I also think Davey wanted to show how bullying can really affect people in a bad way and it can lead up to the victim doing things they wouldn't have done if they hadn't have been picked on.

The Play is about a young boy, James who has committed a crime but he can't remember what has happened. The play is inspired by the stories of a young offender from Glasgow. The play was written for young people to perform and I think this is so they get a better understanding of how bullying can dramatically change someones life and that no one should have to go through it.

To show that bullying can really take over someones life Davey makes the victim change everything about himself making the audience feel sorry for him because the boy doesn't want to be himself anymore, he will do anything to stop people from hurting him. I think the play also shows that you shouldn't judge someone for what they are like because you may not know what has already happened to them. For example the boys father abused the mother and the boys grandad died of cancer. All these things made the boy angry and he chose violence as a call for help. The play is told from James point of view as the perpetrator however we originally saw him as a victim. This shows us that normally bullies pick on people because they were once victims themselves.

In the end the boy has lost everything, this shows us that due to everything going on around him he has made some bad decisions and has found it hard to control his life. All these obstacles have built up making his life spiral out of control however in the end he realises that he should not keep his anger built up inside of him, he should talk about it and he never wants to be in the position of losing everything again.

Because the play is about going down the wrong path when trying to take control there is quite alot of violence in the play however when he is in the jail cell reflecting on what he has done there is also alot of emotion because he never wanted things to go this way.