Running on the Cracks @ Tron

The Tron Theatre Company, in cooperation with Pilot Theatre bring the premiere of Running on the Cracks , directed by Katie Posner. Based on a book by Julia Donaldson and adapted by Andy Arnold, it deals with the issue of juvenile runaways, who feel they have nowhere to turn. 

Leo has run away from home, unable to deal with her snobbish aunt and the unorthodox advances of her uncle. Her parents both died in a plane crash, so she has no one left. She jumps on a train to Glasgow, where her grandparents used to live. Yet as a runaway, she's caught between the system that is trying to deliver her back into her uncle's hands and her lack of knowledge about the Chinese side of her family.

The play is very direct; from the first few words, it is obvious what the subject is, and what perspective the audience is given. Although the actors never directly address the audience to narrate the story, it is evident the events are told from the runaway's point of view. Due to the plot, there is no worried parent pacing back and forth, or any compassion associated with the home Leo runs away from. In true Hollywood style, the characters separate into 'good' and 'bad' very quickly. This highlights how traditional theatre and film forms struggle with representing the human emotive and behavioural spectrum as it is. 

Nonetheless, much like Glasgow Girls, the play achieves its main goal of getting people talking about the social issue it grapples with. It emphasises how 'the system' is broken; if a child runs away from an abusive household, the law and society assumes the child is best returned to its guardians, while no investigation is conducted into its living conditions. [Eric Karoulla]