REVIEW: As We Face The Sun, Limelight Theatre Group, EdFringe 2025 ★★★★

Energy eminates from the stage from the off and is maintained with admirable panache until the very end in As We Face the Sun. In a story of grief, adolescence and the enduring friendships we carry with us, a cast of six talented performers shine throughout, bringing a healthy dose of school days nostalgia and some highly emotionally intelligent performances.

Performed by Limelight Theatre, with a cast of West London actors, this felt like a delightfully true-to-life montage of teenhood in the city, set to a 2012-specific soundtrack and with references to iPods and Calvin Harris peppered throughout. London friendship group Josh, Cherry, Cole, Makai, Danny and Tamera suffer a tragic loss during secondary school, and find that over the years that follow, it’s not quite as simple as they had hoped to keep memories and tradition alive in adulthood. Switching back and forth between senior school and adulthood, we are given a nostalgic taste of British secondary schooling, as well as an endearing portrayal of how childhood grief and loss is complex and far-reaching.

The play opens with intense, warm charisma, incorporating use of choral lines that brightly evoke a bustling school setting. There is no weak link in these group moments, as we are led in a whirlwind of coach trips, shopping trips, group photobooth snapshots and school corridors. In particular, for example, interactions with coach driver Gary (pitched perfectly by D’Jordelle Wright-Auguiste) were nothing short of delightful, both in sheer comedic value and relatability. Lorna Capewell directs these scenes with sharp focus, using solo and choral lines to great effect. After a searingly vulnerable and maturely-handled scene of tragedy, we flit back and forth between adulthood and childhood intermittently. The heavy pop-culture references provide a contrast between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ stories, making pacey chronological switches easier to follow. Most of the time, this is clear cut and well performed, but in the latter fifteen minutes, the constant changes may lead the audience to slightly lose their way. On one hand, the pace of the sequence become a dizzying blur which perhaps parallels the perception of memories as they swirl and disintegrate over time. Nevertheless, it became slightly hard to follow and the distinction between older/younger selves became less clear. Ultimately, we are shown that all six characters must find their own ways of grieving that meshes with their adult lives – while some yearn for stalwart tradition, others crack under the pressure and ultimately, if the group can stick together, it will be due to honesty, empathy and – as we see – a good bit of dancing.

The music holds together a lot of the energy and is well chosen; Somebody That I Used to Know is used wryly throughout, which was on-the-nose considering the content, but wonderfully sentimental and placed between scenes to reflect time passing back and forth. It isn’t entirely clear for whom the script, by Kit Withington, is written; audiences of certain ages will connect the era immediately to their own school experiences, but otherwise there seems to be no real wider cultural implication for that particular year or what was happening for teens in London at that moment in time, which might have been a more memorable offering. However, alongside strong performances and cute staging choices (like the hanging up of school blazers on stage), the production very much still works along a message of core experiences that will resonate for any generation. Finally, narration of the school trip out of London served as a heavy reminder that so many young people in London (and elsewhere in the UK) will never have been able to leave the city.

In some ways, this is classic AmDram (and there is nothing wrong with that!), with a hungry, tight-knit and eager cast and a script that allows them to dip their toes into acting challenges. In other ways, this production really is a refreshing change of pace from much of the festival, with not a hint of pretention behind the performances: these are raw talents waiting to be snapped up into big and bright performance futures. Particular mention must go to Della-Apronia Mulinde-Parris as Tamera, whose skilful portrayal of young student to young mother was as sincere as it was moving. Mulinde-Parris is wonderfully understated, holding the entire room in much-needed moments of slow tranquility amidst a bustling performance. Xander Wright’s Josh is at turns excellently dry, with a seemingly instinctive feel for comedic beats, and captivating, steady delivery as an adult who is disillusioned and detached by the once-strong friendship. The cast are doubtless ones to watch, displaying calm craft and infectious energy at every turn. Possibly most poignant of all is Zahra Hakimi as a school teacher forced to witness and cope with the loss of a student: a breathtaking moment.

Overall, we are called to question our own childhood losses (of any size) and friendships, and the necessary ways in which we will change over time, whether or not we want to. This production of As We Face the Sun is bright, warm, and promising, with a quiet whisper of dark sentimentality.

Recommended Drink: Something utterly awful that is packed with sugar and nostalgia – WKD Blue, anyone?

Performances of As We Face the Sun have now concluded at EdFringe 2025.