Daisy Jo Lucas
When I grow up I want to be a princess who falls in love
And sleeps on a bed of feathers and butterflies
And be a ballerina and sing songs
And be a mermaid with long blond hair
And leave a trail of breadcrumbs so I never get lost
And be like everyone else
YOU. WILL. BE. HAPPY.
- 300 Friends
"300 Friends" is the latest play from the Whitespace Theatre Company, directed by Sarah Elaine Stewart.
It could be said that although Disney films and fairy tales undoubtedly inspire young imaginations, they also sow the seeds of disappointment later on in life. Good doesn't always triumph; the best laid plans do not necessarily come to fruition. Come a certain age, most grown ups lay their childish fantasies to bed and surrender themselves to rather more mundane aspirations. Or give up entirely.
And so the play introduces us to six twenty-somethings, each clinging onto a doomed dream that threatens to float off without them. They parade their hopes for others to admire, they talk as if their words alone will somehow bring them closer to fulfillment. Of course, we the audience know better. Such is the luxury of detachment, of sitting on the perimeter looking in.
However we cannot sit as spectators of our own lives - we are right in the thick of it. And just like the characters of the play, we too are hopelessly ill-equipped to judge what is attainable, and what will never be.
Robert Ashford
Anna Gudbrandsdottir
Tom Kirkin
Alice Knapton
Elizabeth Quinn
Elizabeth Quinn, Tom Kirkin and Robert Ashford
Daisy Jo Lucas.
300 Friends set
Jeffrey Michael, set designer.
