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Skunk
A surreal, dreamlike and hilarious play exploring the pressures and transformations that happen to teenagers as they grow up.
Otto's parents have big plans for him. His mum thinks he's 'Cambridge material'. His dad wants him to play for Arsenal. It's a lot of pressure, but Otto has it under control.
Until one morning, when Otto wakes up feeling pretty peculiar... discovering, unexpectedly, he's been transformed into a skunk.
Inspired by Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, Skunk was first performed at Soho Theatre, produced by the National Youth Theatre.
Multiplay Drama is an exciting new series of large-cast plays, specifically written to be performed by and appeal to older teenagers and young adults.
Otto's parents have big plans for him. His mum thinks he's 'Cambridge material'. His dad wants him to play for Arsenal. It's a lot of pressure, but Otto has it under control.
Until one morning, when Otto wakes up feeling pretty peculiar... discovering, unexpectedly, he's been transformed into a skunk.
Inspired by Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, Skunk was first performed at Soho Theatre, produced by the National Youth Theatre.
Multiplay Drama is an exciting new series of large-cast plays, specifically written to be performed by and appeal to older teenagers and young adults.
70 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 4, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 19, 2020
Not a huge fan tbh however it was very interesting at times
August 17, 2025
Ashton seems to have bitten off more than she could chew with ‘Skunk’. What was attempting to be a thought-provoking metaphor ended up being a mess of a play, more confusing and frustrating than meaningful, and far more disturbing than comedic.
Much like with ‘For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad’, the writing immediately threw me. ‘Skunk’ didn’t contain the same degree of pretentiousness as with FATWWTTWM, but I felt it nonetheless. More noticeably, however, ‘Skunk’ contains an awkward and unnecessary rhyming scheme during certain parts that feels unnatural, as though Ashton didn’t have the lines thought out beforehand and simply used an online rhyme-finder. Furthermore, some lines did not make grammatical sense. I understand that there are no rules to playwriting in the same sense as there are when writing a novel, but I do think lines still have to flow well and feel connected. I don't think that was the case in ‘Skunk’. I had to re-read several lines, which isn't a good sign.
This brings me neatly onto my next point, which is that I cannot imagine this being staged. The entire purpose of a play is for it to be better on the stage than it is on paper. This, I felt, would be unnatural, confusing, and off-putting for an audience. The humour feels wooden, and there were a few occasions when I had to stop and take a moment because of headaches. In real life, an audience can't do this. Furthermore, I couldn't understand why some lines were said by the characters Ashton chose. There were multiple lines intended to be delivered by the entire cast that I could not imagine being said in that manner. It felt as though the playwright hadn't given enough thought into the dialogue and had randomly allocated lines to characters based on an indiscernible system.
Ashton has clear concepts in mind; that much is certain. However, she seems to have little to no idea how to develop them, and her plays unfortunately end up being messes.
Much like with ‘For All The Women Who Thought They Were Mad’, the writing immediately threw me. ‘Skunk’ didn’t contain the same degree of pretentiousness as with FATWWTTWM, but I felt it nonetheless. More noticeably, however, ‘Skunk’ contains an awkward and unnecessary rhyming scheme during certain parts that feels unnatural, as though Ashton didn’t have the lines thought out beforehand and simply used an online rhyme-finder. Furthermore, some lines did not make grammatical sense. I understand that there are no rules to playwriting in the same sense as there are when writing a novel, but I do think lines still have to flow well and feel connected. I don't think that was the case in ‘Skunk’. I had to re-read several lines, which isn't a good sign.
This brings me neatly onto my next point, which is that I cannot imagine this being staged. The entire purpose of a play is for it to be better on the stage than it is on paper. This, I felt, would be unnatural, confusing, and off-putting for an audience. The humour feels wooden, and there were a few occasions when I had to stop and take a moment because of headaches. In real life, an audience can't do this. Furthermore, I couldn't understand why some lines were said by the characters Ashton chose. There were multiple lines intended to be delivered by the entire cast that I could not imagine being said in that manner. It felt as though the playwright hadn't given enough thought into the dialogue and had randomly allocated lines to characters based on an indiscernible system.
Ashton has clear concepts in mind; that much is certain. However, she seems to have little to no idea how to develop them, and her plays unfortunately end up being messes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews