Although tucked away in the Baby Grand, The Second Best School Shooting is a reminder that a terse script and two actors, with minimal scenography, can cover profound subjects with depth and sensitivity. In the aftermath of an abortive school shooting, two of the victims try to process their trauma, caught between the potential of their futures and a political climate that seems intent on crushing them.
Since their school shooting had no casualties and happened on the same day as one far more brutal, the two students are adrift. Their own anxieties are enhanced by fears of climatic chaos and the pressures of social media. When the clout from TikTok won’t oblige one student’s fantasies of being important, they are pushed to a more melodramatic appeal for help.
The nuance of the characterisation, the logic of the plot’s development and the willingness to acknowledge the terror beneath the apparently superficial engagement with the world push School Shooting into dramatically powerful territory.
The two argue about their dreams and beliefs, trivialise themselves in an attempt to be heard, barely able to articulate their trauma or hopes. The solution might be friendship, it claims, but this is hard-won in the face of a society that wants to signify but never acts.
The Second Best School Shooting, Pleasance Courtyard, until 30 Aug (not Wednesdays), 12.45pm