A cutting edge piece of theatre about youth gangs, teenage knife crime, attempted rape and murder is very timely given the spate of killings on our streets in recent months. I was lucky enough to catch it before it ended its London run last week.

But this was no contemporary Royal Court production from one of a new generation of British playwrights. It was the 50^th anniversary production of West Side Story, the musical written by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. This tale of the street conflict between the Hispanic Puerto Rican Sharks and the white New York Jets stands up very well.

Like Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on which it was very loosely based, West Side Story stands the test of time because it has memorable characters struggling with universal themes; in this case youth delinquency, alienation, racism and fear of immigrants among others.

Although set in the days before custodial sentences gave way to community service, before finger-wagging and a cuff around the ear was replaced by Asbos, when restorative justice was unheard of, it seems to me WWS has lost none of its relevance.

The concerns of the 1950s gangs still strike a chord with us now: the Jets are at odds with their parents who seem locked into a pre-war culture and values that have no relevance for them; they feel insecure and challenged on their own turf by a recent wave of migrants.

Meanwhile, the Sharks are convinced they do not get a fair deal in the promised land, face racist prejudice at every turn, and stuck at the bottom of the jobs market.

Also bang on target is the hatred and violence both gangs face - but especially the Sharks - from the police. Heavy handed policing - epitomised by Lt Schrank - serves to set the two sides against each other and draw a suitably hostile response from the youth.

The most amusing passage comes with the famous "Gee, Officer Krupke" song in which the Jets mock the various professional diagnoses and remedies for their delinquency. Tiger rehearses the dysfunctional family theses:

"It's just our bringin' upke

That gets us out of hand

Our mothers all are junkies

Our fathers all are drunks

Golly Moses, naturally we're punks "

Accordingly the spoof "judge" lambasts Officer Krupke for bringing him before the courts when in reality.

"You're really a square

This boy don't need a judge

He needs an analyst's care

It's just his neurosis

That oughta be curbed

He's psychologically disturbed" 

Referred to the "headshrink" for help, the psychiatrist demures, saying,

"This boy don't need a couch

He needs a usefully career

Society's played him a terrible trick

And sociologically he's sick"

Cue the social worker, who turns out to be the most unsympathetic of the all the social agencies, and speaks of a time when social workers were indistinguishable from the criminal justice system. Taking one look at Tiger she declares;

"Eek, Officer Krupke

You've done it again

This boy don't need a job

He needs a year in the pen

It ain't just a question of misunderstood

Deep down inside he's no good."

How many social workers would admit to that today! Or have quietly thought it!

Oh and yes, I nearly forgot, WWS is primarily a love story, in which Tony, the semi-retired founder of the Jets falls for Maria, the sister of the Sharks' leader and the strength of their love forces both communities to reassess their mutual animosities. But love has no easy victory and there is no happy ending.

The death of Tony - shot by Shark gang member Chico - stuns the two gangs who unite momentarily in their grief as they carry his body away.

But this is no lasting coming together. The discordant final chord cuts across the fading main harmony, as Bernstein hints that there will be no easy reconciliation between the two sides.

Mocking, insightful and above all else fantastic music and dancing.

Read the complete post at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/social-work-blog/2008/09/im-depraved-on-account-im-depr.html