Vivienne Walshe’s play THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE, the winner of the 2012 Griffin Award, tells  an old story in a new way.

Two teenagers who go to the same school, Chris (Yalin Ozucelik) and Chloe (Ava Torch), come from very opposite sides of the track.  Chris comes from a middle class family… Chloe is working class….Chris has been tutored in classic poetry, Chloe can’t read…High brow versus low brow….

They befriend each other…form a bond..become close.. they relate and communicate with each other in their own unique, poetic language…and yet it isn’t enough…

This is a night at the theatre that draws one in but leaves one, in the end, feeling unsatisfied. The play’s beginning is difficult, the audience is not orientated and is thrown right in the middle of the action, trying to second guess what’s happening. The tale is told in a too cerebral way which sees the emotional punch- even knockout- that is at the heart of this tale not coming through.

The performances by Ozucelik and Torch are great- both convincingly play a wide range of characters.

There’s a touching, special play within.  With more work, the potential in THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE could yet be realised.

A Griffin Independent and Just Visiting production, THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE opened at the SBW Stables Theatre, 10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross on Friday 21 June and runs until Saturday 13 July, 2013.