Review: SPRING AWAKENING, Tron Theatre

Students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland upload Anya Reiss’s unique adaptation of Spring Awakening to the Tron. Reiss propels Frank Wedekind’s controversial 19th-century tale into the digital age. Set under an umbrella of smartphones, pornographic sites, social media, and online subcultures, the play explores how today’s teens are bombarded with information yet still starved of emotional guidance from adults and society.

The “red pill vs. blue pill” metaphor—now hijacked by incel forums and figures like Andrew Tate—is the thread of the piece, exposing the toxic ideologies vulnerable young teens may adopt when denied open conversations about sex, masculinity, and power. Reiss’s characters navigate this digital minefield, where identity crises and taboo subjects are intensified by echo chambers and algorithm-fed misinformation. The piece is performed mostly in British Sign Language, with written subtitles projected on an overhead screen.

It’s a cool premise with both strengths and areas for improvement. The set design is conceptually strong—live cameras onstage feed footage onto large projected screens, allowing the audience to catch minute details and reinforcing the play’s themes of surveillance, exposure, and digital overexposure. Unfortunately, the execution didn't always match the ambition - live feed was often static, limiting the impact of an otherwise powerful idea.

As always, the performers exhibited strong talent. Kodi Shields was hilarious during a sexual parody of an art history lecture. Matthew M Thomas and Teegan Erwing played off each other well as teachers trying to navigate a student sending pornographic links. Ross McGeough is simultaneously delightful and thought-provoking as Moritz, capturing the character's vulnerability and tragic confusion.

Ammar Karim and Yuki Neoh play off each other well as Moritz and Wendla. Kodi Shields and Stella Nicholson deliver a poignant, powerful scene about the contrasting ways of parenting young men in the manospheric world, while Kym Clearie is joyfully vibrant throughout the production. The play makes bold use of non-naturalistic sequences to explore social commentary—some land with striking clarity, while others feel more forced or underdeveloped.

This piece is worth seeing for its compelling performances and the uncomfortable-yet-important conversations it will ignite.

Photo Credit: Hope Holmes-RCS

Spring Awakening was at the Tron until the 10 of May.

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