Critics loved Little Sweet Thing, Roy Williams's play about young people struggling to survive in inner-city London. But does it ring true for teenagers? After a recent performance at the Hampstead Theatre, Maitaoga (16) and Angeline Djoboga (13), and their friend Lil Torio (17), who live on the nearby Chalcot Estate, gave their verdicts.
M: It was really realistic. The language was perfect because that's how kids talk these days.
L: In some scenes you couldn't tell what the point was. They'd be arguing and you couldn't see why.
A: It should open people's eyes to what goes on in schools.
M: Natasha [the main character] acts just like a girl I know in school, the way she talked to her teacher and called other girls bitch. But then when the headteacher is there: silent. She'll talk like that to a teacher, but not to the headteacher.
Maitaoga, you said you liked the actor who played Kev?
M: Oh yeah. He's so buff! To be honest, I think the character he played tonight was kind of . . .
A: Dodgy?
M: No. Just a sweet, innocent boy.
Do you think a lot of bad guys are like that really?
A: Some of them, maybe.
M: I know some bad boys and they're not literally bad, but they don't care. On their own, they're soft.
How about the way it showed black kids and white kids relating to each other?
M: That was so realistic, because if I fancied an Asian or a white boy . . .
A: You do.
M: Shut up! If I did, I would never tell my friends.
A: You told me.
M: Shut UP!
The teacher in the play says that if a boy makes you happy it doesn't matter what race he is.
M: Yeah, that's what teachers always say.
A: That's not what my teacher said. I want to be a lawyer or do something in business, and she was like: "Be realistic." They're supposed to say work hard.
