Boy on the Swing

<i>The Boy on the Swing</i> portrays an individual in the throes of a corporation with intimidating authority and an almost inexplicable leverage to trap and injure. Upon finding a mysterious business card labelled 'Talk to God' in the street protagonist Earl Hunt comes into contact with the Hope and Trust Foundation which offers the chance to meet God - for a price. After submitting credit card details during a bafflingly threatening phone interview Earl proceeds to a visit to the Hope and Trust office full of unfathomable power games which alternate between geniality and intimidating menace. The promised meeting with 'God' arrives when in a dingy room Earl finally comes into contact with an old man of 85.<br/><br/>From the pseudo business-evangelical spiel of the Hope and Trust Foundation to the frugal simplicity of the man presented as God Joe Harbot's range and pace is cleverly broad and elusive. From a set-up which subtly suggests the mercenary exploitation of the lost and the lonely the play's arc turns to darker and stranger themes of metaphysical significance. <br/><br/><i>The Boy on the Swing</i> is an enigmatic piece of writing sometimes baffling and sometimes blackly funny. For all its bizarre and perplexing notes the play has a smart dark sense of humour and grapples with abstract preternatural questions.