Asbo Bozo – Riverside Studios

18 minutes to start her day in silence, our lead and Anti-social Behaviour Officer (Georgina Duncan) needs to start her day off peacefully before dealing with the gruelling week ahead. Even more excitingly- it’s her birthday! With high expectations of the day, she prepares herself to play it cool when presented with cake and cards at work! She whirls around positive thinking, her phone quietly buzzes with yet another work meeting, a voicemail, an email. Her 18 minutes are cut 5 minutes short, so we journey with her on her walk to work through Wigan high street. Observant and suspicious of the locals, she’s seen far too much to just take life at surface level, but rather than confronting these demons, she remains forever bubbling on top of a kill switch. One small spark could set off an explosion of a lifetime full of emotional suppression.

Written and performed by Duncan, the script is handled beautifully with care and thoughtfulness to a subject that most wouldn’t know about. The intensity of working in Anti-social behaviour isn’t as 2D as one might think. It includes an array of vulnerable people, complicated characters and day in, day out complaints that feels like a pit with an unreachable depth. This allows us to question – if your job is to care, then who cares for you? Or even more importantly, how do you care for yourself?

Throughout our journey, Bozo is forced to confront the reality of her situation. Not only did people forget it’s her birthday- they didn’t know to begin with. When deciding that it didn’t matter anyway- she has her ‘Gals’ for a pub session in the evening, only to be disappointed with the arrival of 1 out of 8. This impossible dilemma is heartbreaking to watch. Cleverly presented to us, we know Bozo for her vulnerability but also see her for her faults- who would want to support a person who never has the time to give it back? The only reasonable solution is to truly confront every situation with a bit more kindness than you might want to give.

This feels like an extremely important piece that I really hope has more life in the future. It is funny, heartbreaking, thought-provoking and gives a voice to an area that is often overlooked and undervalued. It deserves to be seen by as many as possible so we all learn a little more about how far kindness and forgiveness can go.

Reviewer: Alice Rose

Reviewed: 27th March 2025

North West End UK Rating: