A SHOCKING new play is lifting the lid on Glasgow's gang culture - but for the young stars of Fleeto the violence is all too real.
A SHOCKING new play is lifting the lid on Glasgow's gang culture - but for the young stars of Fleeto the violence is all too real.
More than 20 Coatbridge College students have been recruited to play a baying gang in Paddy Cunneen's explosive knife drama at the Tron Theatre.
But art is imitating life for some of the students who have witnessed attacks and threats on friends and family that have left them chilled to the bone.
They have revealed how the casual violence that scars the west of Scotland has left them scared to leave their houses.
"We used to hang about the streets but not any more because it started getting violent," says Katie Currie, a 17-year-old first year HND student from Cumbernauld.
Katie says that female gang members often spark the violence. "Girls are just as dangerous as guys these days. It's shocking. .
And she blasted youngsters who claim they only carry weapons to defend themselves.
"You don't carry a knife to protect yourself - that's a lot of rubbish. If you're going to carry a knife then you're going to use it."
The brutal play tells the story of gang members who encourage a youth to kill another in vengeance for an attack on his pal.
It comes as new figures from the Children's Reporter says that 8000 Scottish kids are out of control.
Acting student Andy Durning from Airdrie suffered bullying at school - just for having red hair.
He was too afraid to tell his parents about the problem. The 21-year-old was beaten up by a group of youths who stole his personal stereo and mobile phone when he was 16.
"I've had a lot of hassle just because of my red hair," says Andy, who said he was often too scared to leave his house between the ages of 13 and 17.
"I used to dress in hoodies and keep my head down, but they sense that you don't have a lot of confidence and they prey on you."
Andy says that even if gang members don't have knives they will use makeshift weapons.
"Sometimes it's bottles and I once saw one lassie use a high heel."
Andy has thrown himself into acting to improve his self-confidence, but admits to finding such a stark role reversal - from gang victim to gang member - quite intimidating.
"I've seen these people and I've looked them in the eye and I've said enough is enough."
Cheryl Dickson, from Bishopbriggs, is another Coatbridge College student shocked by street violence. But the 20-year-old thinks youngsters need better facilities to keep them out of trouble.
"When there's nowhere to go, people start hanging about the streets and that's when they get into gangs and that's when trouble starts," says Cheryl.
"In Cumbernauld it's the same," says Katie. "There's a shop on literally every corner selling alcohol and they go and get drunk because there's nothing else to do."
James Douglas, 21, from Hamilton said his sister's boyfriend was bottled for no reason, while fellow student Shaun Lau, 20 , from Bellshill had a youth try to put a lit firework in his pocket when he was 15.
"It can be dodgy out there," says Shaun.
Fleeto is at the Tron for a week, before touring to 17 venues across Scotland and onto London over the next six weeks. The modern-day take on Greek legend The Iliad was first staged in November 2007 as a lunchtime theatre production for A Play, A Pie And A Pint, for which the Evening Times is media partner.
The play blends elaborate rhymed verse with no holds barred Glasgow street slang to tell the story of a stabbing and the repercussions for the perpetrator and his victim's distraught mother.
Writer and director Paddy Cunneen said: "It is my hope audiences will experience a story of human tragedy and examine some of the questions raised."
The play will be staged at HM Young Offenders' Institution Polmont as part of the Scottish Prison Service's Violence Reduction Week and V.AMP Productions are running outreach workshops with youth groups and schools on knife crime and violence in society.
- Fleeto is recommended for ages over 16. It runs until Saturday at the Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate. Tickets £10-£14/£6-£10 conc from 0141 552 4267. It tours to Irvine's Harbour Arts Centre (Sep 20), Paisley Arts Centre (Sep 22) and East Kilbride Arts Centre (Oct 14).
