Brainstorm review – inside the messy teenage brain

What would you say if you came face to face with your teenage self? Would you tell her to stop worrying about her looks; reassure him that one day he will find love; tip her a surefire win on the horses?

This is the question with which this remarkable show - an investigation into the teenage brain, devised by 10 young performers from the Islington Community Theatre, with the support of neuroscientists and the Wellcome Trust - begins. We are invited to write our answers on postcards, and leave them in a bucket: the fact they will surely be used on stage provides a faint drip of tension throughout the show.

But this is just the first in a series of highly effective theatrical games through which the performers explore their own experiences of growing up, and the uniqueness of the teenage brain. There, we learn, 86bn neurons are firing off information like scrolling WhatsApp messages, while some of the most important sections - such as the prefrontal cortex, the part that warns us against taking unnecessary risks - haven’t yet fully developed.

A subject that could, on paper, seem complex and inaccessible is brought to vivid life: the messy teenage brain becomes a bedroom strewn with clothes and debris; the prefrontal cortex becomes the brain’s “dad”, its bossiness illustrated via a hilarious, and touching, scene in which the cast impersonate their parents.

“Look at us,” says 18-year-old Gracia Kayindo as the performance opens, “what do you see?” By the end of this beautifully conceived show, we see talent, and passion, and a group of young people trying their best to make sense of the world, while their constantly developing brains hurry to keep up.

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