This was an excellent show put on by the Australian Theatre for Young People. The theme was about youth homelessness, a hard topic to encapsulate.

The show was made up of a number of short, sharp scenes, all of which were striking and powerful in their own  way.

There was a big range in the scenes. There was Marcus who came home to find that his alcoholic father had left home and his mother was very ambivalent towards him being around. He  just sees her ‘empty face’ and ‘dead eyes’.

It is after midnight, Marcus packs his bag and leaves home to spend the night on the street. He sees his father in a park looking very distressed but he walks right past him.  

There was a scene between two teenage girls in the bedroom of a family home. We learn that it is the bedroom of one of the girls and the other girl has been staying over because she can’t bear to be at home. Her mother’s boyfriend is always sleazing on to her..

There is growing tension  between them. She is giving her friend mixed messages about whether it’s ok for her to continue to stay. She tells her that her mother does not want her to stay any more, feeling very vulnerable. The scene was beautifully wrought.

In between the vignettes there was black and white documentary style footage ( Videographer – Hugh Clark) with narration and interviews with homeless young people, many living in refuges.

There’s a scene on a train where a teenage boy, who is having issues with his girlfriend, acts out his aggressions on another teenage boy.  A teenage girl, with headphones on, is in the seat in front. The scene ends with his girlfriend making peace by agreeing to go home with him.

There’s a scene in a refuge with one teenage girl rehearsing an upcoming interview that another girl has with McDonalds. At first the interviewee is negative and uncooperative but she ends up taking the process seriously.

Another scene has a feisty teenage girl taking a driving lesson and giving the instructor a hard time. She says ‘I want to do what other people do’. She tells the instructor to stop reassuring her ‘it really pisses her off’ and that he should just tell her when to start the engine.

Two brothers  meet at a cafe. One can see that their relationship is a bit troubled still they agreed to catch up. One brother is pleading with the other brother to not be an idiot and please come home , to get his life back in order before he leaves home again. His brother listens to him but wants to stay on the street. They hug, and say it is good seeing each other.

An older teenager has left the streets and is living in her own apartment for the first time. This scene conveys all the excitement she feels, as well as  feeling guilty that many of her friends are still living on the street. She wants to be listened to and not felt sorry for.

With excellent writing  by Lewis Treston, a good creative team led by director Fraser Corfield, and a strong cast of Laneikka Denne, Jordan Dulieu, Jasper Lee-Lindsay and Sofia Nolan, this was a show well worth going out to Parramatta for.

Unfortunately FOLLOW ME HOME only had a short season at the Riverside, playing between May 29 and May 31, 2019.