Miriam Trujillo
The Kids with Nae Hame was an arresting title and an even more interesting premise. This Scottish piece of new writing told the story of children in foster care. We followed four care-experienced teens through several tense days in a children’s home. One has aged out, but still is emotionally dependent on the home. A second is pushed to the breaking point by the system. A third is hyper aware of the injustices of her situation, trying to champion a better life for herself and her friends. The fourth is just trying to survive. All four find solace listening to music and reading. Marilyn Monroe is a particular inspiration to them as someone who grew up in a similar situation.
These four teens find themselves pitted against cold, uncaring foster workers who only do the job for the money and who are ready to find fault with them over anything. They find themselves in a culture that’s ready to lock them up for any offence, and in a system so tied up in red tape that it priorizes everything else before it looks after the youths in its care. We see tensions grow between the teens and the system. The adults running the home increasingly stereotype the teens as trouble makers and young criminals, all while ignoring the teens’ real needs and pleas for help. As a result, the kids act out more and more, until one of them takes it just a tiny bit too far and is locked up.
The story was well structured and did a good job portraying just how many odds are stacked against care-experienced children. I was able to see, quite vividly, how little slack is given to children and teens in such a situation: how they are expected to toe the line more than any other child, how any behavioral issue is disproportionately held against them, and how heavy the consequences for bad behavior are. The cast was made up of adults who had had experienced the foster system at some point in their childhoods. As a result, the story they told was specific, accurate, and quite troubling.
Unfortunately, the show suffered a lot in execution. The perfomers involved clearly had very little dramatic training, and they neglected some basic “do’s” and “dont’s” of performing. There were too many dead spots where it was clear someone had forgotten a line or a direction. Actors flubbed lines and mis-timed interactions with each other, and only one or two of the performers really knew how to project. There were also moments when performers were clearly reading off scripts or coaching each other, not to mention the blocking of the show was a bit lacking, leaving many of the actors awkwardly sitting about. On a somewhat brighter note, I would say that the actor who played Jamie, one of the teens, showed a lot of naturalism and potential, and was refreshing to watch.
The poor execution broke my suspension of belief, distracting from a valuable storyline. I believe this is a story that needs to be told. The foster care system is something that requires so much change if we ever hope to achieve an equitable and humane society. It is ridden with problems and injustices that often go overlooked. Any piece of art that shines a light on this issue deserves recognition and attention. I would warmly encourage the artists behind this piece to keep at it, gain more performance experience, and polish this piece into the important work it really can be.
Recommended Drink: Piper-Heidsieck: Marylin Monroe’s favourite.
The Kids with Nae Hame has completed it’s run at EdFringe 2024.
Jake Mace
