Boys Tales

BOYS TALES is a glimpse of childhood in the post-war years in Sheffield. A time of austerity for the adults, but a time of freedom for children to play in the streets and parks of an industrial city. Following the adventures of David and the gang BOY'S TALES is a gritty account of the reality of childhood. No rose-coloured images fog the view of these times and the ever-present adult world simply forms a background as David and his friends face the bullies - both adult and young - who dominate them. Sexual awareness comes unexpectedly early and although their world is seen as predatory and sometimes dangerous, often it surrenders to tenderness. But always it is filled with the colours of the imagination that transcends the city streets where they play. And for David and his friends, their comradeship helps them to deal with the dramas and disappointments of the adult world around them. For, subject as they are to the discipline of their parents, they are witness to the failures in their parents' lives, the bitter disappointments of poverty, the feuds and arguments.Thus David witnesses Dorothy's tragic descent into insanity; Snotty Booker is driven by fearful loneliness to a desperate act of terror, and Earnshaw is always aware of Bramall's lewd intentions toward his sister. But there is always escape in play. In stripping away the fanciful romance of children's early years, BOYS TALES reaffirms the value of childhood, and relives the adventures and sometimes hair-raising escapades that become forgotten in later years.