Home at the National Theatre – review

Michaela Coel in a scene from Home. Photograph: Ellie Kurttz

Nadia Fall has been waiting a long time to direct a play like Home, a reenactment of the impoverished lives of 16 to 24-year-olds living in an East London homeless hostel.

Based on 38 hours of interviews conducted at the hostel by Fall and her friend, social researcher Esta Orchard, the production is a piece of documentary theatre that pushes audiences to appreciate the reality of homelessness.

The verbatim script makes no attempt to soften the accounts of hardship from the hostel’s residents.

Sexual assault, parental abandonment and drug abuse all feature.

The hostel manager, played by Ashley McGuire, at one point announces that four residents have been sectioned after smoking “some of that legal weed”.

Hackney-raised Michaela Coel bounces around the stage, bringing both energy and vulnerability to the role of ‘Young Mum’.

The talents of twice UK beat-boxing champion Grace Savage take care of all the necessary sound effects.

“I’m not interested in theatre that doesn’t have potential for change”, says Fall, who was partly inspired by the reaction to the 2011 Riots. “I’m sick of the feral, subhuman label given to young people.”

Fall has held workshops with residents of the hostel, which she won’t name to protect the management who gave her access, and she plans to stage a performance for those who cooperated.

“I think it might be hard for them to see their stories acted out,” she says, “but I hope they will enjoy it”.

Home is at The Shed, National Theatre, London South Bank, SE1 9PX, until 7 September