It's a sparse, urgent production from Lewis with just the two girls, a table, a ghetto-blaster and a Coke bottle, no dramatic lighting or set, just a couple of adolescents remembering.
Both Carri Munn and Anna Joseph are strong, but the interesting casting of an actress better known to local audiences for comic sketches doesn't quite come off - Ms Munn seems at times to be too obviously performing.
She also has the difficult task of playing a slightly older Vic who's telling a story of things passed. Older Vic speaks not so much as a 16-year-old but as a lyrical, articulate narrator, recalling what seemed like an idyll.
What isn't dealt with in this sensitive, taut, engaging play is also important, of course: it isn't just the relationship between the two girls (which actually isn't very well depicted) and the camaraderie of the flock. One sees their positive qualities coming through alongside the irresponsibility, callousness and cruelty that comes so easily to the gang.
The Flock is aimed at young people and doubtless they will find much to talk about as regards friendship, survival, crime, parents and what's smart and what's stupid.
But the rest of us will also be moved as we see a bunch of kids, the product of our society, whose main reward, their belonging to their "nest", was destroyed by one rapacious adult.
David Adams, Western Mail, The Guide, Friday 11th February 2005.
