The Acid Test

Buds Theatre Company presents `The Acid Test’, a new work by acclaimed British writer Anya Reiss

‘This has been the worst day of my life. So can you please get drunk with me?”

Anya Reiss is celebrated as the youngest playwright ever to have a play staged in the West End. Her debut piece Spur of the Moment, was heralded as “the most accomplished debut from a young playwright I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.” by Dominic Cavendish of The Daily Telegraph. The play went on to win the 2010 TMA Award for Best New Play and Reiss herself won the Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright.

The Acid Test is her second piece, written under the mentorship of The Royal Court’s Young Writers Programme and staged at The Royal Court on 13th May 2011.

The Acid Test is about three young women, living away from home and dealing with the complexities of independence when the father of one character, Jess turns up, unannounced, on their doorstep, having been evicted from his family home by Jess’s mother who is now having an affair with the builder. Jim, the father begins to behave as recklessly as his daughter and her friends – leading us to question – Does age really equal maturity?

Selected in celebration of the writer herself, her youth and talent and in honour of The Royal Courts’ Young Writers Programme. The programme is a true reflection of our own philosophies. Buds Youth Theatre member, Cheryl Lee was selected to represent Singapore at a camp for international writers at The Royal Court and since then we have forged a bond with the philosophies of the company and follow their guidelines as a means of inspiration for our own projects, such as Going Local, a community project involving various arts groups staging local works by local young and relevant writers.