CYCLES from BOY BLUE Image credit:- Camilla Greenwell
Concept and Conception Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante
Choreographer Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy
AVIVA STUDIOS
Eighteen months on from the memorable FREE YOUR MIND which launched AVIVA STUDIOS in 2023 comes CYCLES from company who worked with Danny Boyle. This production from renowned hip hop dance company BOY BLUE sees Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante and Kenrick ‘H20’ Sandy back in the building celebrating hip hop dance as an art form. A dance form that now has a fifty year history which started on the streets of The Bronx but is now studied as an art form that can aid depression, PTSD and those who are visually impaired according to University studies.
CYCLES sees eight dancers showcase hip hop dance in its various forms simply as an expression of sheer energy and exuberance that also celebrates technical ability and tight precision choreography. Ninety minutes of dance that encompasses movement in complete unison and creates space for individual expression. Staged on the huge stage in The Hall there is space for fluidity and freedom as dancers come together or seamlessly break apart with points when one literally run cycles of movement along beamed light that looks like the moving turntable of a club DJ.
BOY BLUE performing CYCLES at AVIVA STUDIOS. Image credit: Camilla Greenwell.
This striking production looks and sounds great. The costumes by Matthew Josephs nail street fashion that looks both edgy and slightly futuristic. In the second half the performers don oversized hoods that dwarf their faces giving an androgynous anonymity and look of street menace. There is a starkness to the staging that puts all the emphasis on the dancers. It is only broken by the impactful lighting design by Lee Curran who creates piercing beams of light like helicopter searchlights. The shafts of lights at times cleverly splinter across the stage using the dancers bodies to direct where the light falls. This works beautifully at times but depending on where you are seated there may be moments that are simply blinding.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this production is the fact that the huge Hall at AVIVA STUDIOS was packed out with a diverse and very enthusiastic audience. It can be frustrating and saddening to see some brilliant dance companies play to half empty theatres but thankfully this production celebrating hip hop had no such issues. Hopefully this programming at Factory International will continue to fill the space while also bringing in new audiences.
Morgan Bailey in All Blood Runs Red at Leeds Playhouse Image credit:- Ed Waring
Written and devised by Morgan Bailey, Pete Brooks, Simon Wainwright and Andrew Quick
Directed by Tyrone Higgins
Leeds Playhouse
There are some theatre companies whose name conjure up a certain magic and impel you to go see everything they do. One of these is the innovative Imitating The Dog whose work is always seeped in great storytelling using visually creative and innovative methods. This latest production tells a series of interlinked stories with a recurrent theme around how stories get told and what makes some stories get whitewashed from history…can we reclaim them and what might they tell us about ourselves.
All Blood Runs Red takes its name from a plane flown in WW1 by one of the first ever African American fighter pilots who flew in the French Flying Corps at a time when his native airforce still refused people of colour. Eugene Bullard emerges from history as an extremely colourful character. He fled his native Georgia at a time when lynchings were common, he travelled to Paris via Scotland learning some German en route. He was a drummer in the golden jazz years knowing people like Josephine Baker,he ran a club, was a circus performer and then a spy in WW2. In later years he returned to America and was involved in the Civil Rights movement and finally worked as a lift attendant in the Rockefeller building. This indicates a remarkable life worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster. Yet the whole essence of this production highlights how easily history can whitewash and marginalise remarkable people based on the colour of their skin.
Morgan Bailey in All Blood Runs Red at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit:- Ed Waring.
This is not a linear story of the life of Eugene Bullard. Instead vignettes from his life are interspersed with the lived experience of the Deviser/Performer Morgan Bailey who peppers the production with recollections of how he discovered who Eugene was. On a French film set in Paris, Bailey was playing the role of a young black G.I. in WW2 when he first encountered a book about Eugene Bullard. This production includes Bailey reflecting on his own personal experience of feeling his cultural history and sense of self being whitewashed on set. Woven through the stories of these two men born a hundred years apart is the description of a Parisian lunch where Bailey first suggests telling Bullard’s story with members of Imitating The Dog.
This interplay may frustrate those who may desire a more fully fleshed out history of this fascinating man, however the whole point of the production is to play with the narrative and explore the ways in which stories are told. This is a theatre company that is all about finding new ways to look at stories and bring them alive. Their trademark blend of live theatre mixed with live film-making, digital creativity and sound design brings theatre alive in a unique and challenging manner. This multi faceted and layered production honours a man who emerges from history as someone who defies categorisation and whose life was as rich and varied as this vivid and beautifully constructed production.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Image credit: Gary Calton
Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Chris Sonnex
LIVERPOOL EVERYMAN
☆☆☆☆
Director Chris Sonnex unleashes the mad and the bad in this blistering tale of revenge for the death of Wee Thomas the cat. Martin McDonagh’s macabre snapshot of life on a remote Irish island during the burgeoning peace process in the Nineties is rich in gallows humour and is a wicked take on Irish sentimentalism and fervent religious and political fundamentalism. Celebrating the absurd in the tradition of Beckett, Sonnex ramps up the bizarre and comedic elements with a torture scene in a nightclub and members of the splinter terrorist group, the INLA, strutting on stage in balaclavas like a psychotic boy band stage singing the Village People’s Go West as they head from Northern Ireland to this remote Western island in Eire. The deceptively simple set design by Ellie Light and lighting by Laura Howard gives a great sense of the remoteness of this cottage on The Aran Isles while also allowing for high impact scenes in the nightclub on the mainland.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Image credit: Gary Calton
In a neat touch the whole cast are Irish and Northern Irish actors with several making their stage debut and some being graduates of The Lir Academy in Dublin where Gemma Bodinetz, previously at The Everyman, is now Artistic Director. The cast clearly relish their roles in a production where the comic book violence permits OTT performances and McDonagh’s quickfire dialogue of quips and barbs is always hi-energy and perfectly paced. Alan Turkington and Taylor McClaine are great foils for each other as the unfortunate father Donny and his hapless young neighbour Davey. Together they wreak havoc as they try to cover up the death of Wee Thomas with the aid of an orange tomcat and an old tin of shoe polish. The ensuing results have echoes of an episode of Father Ted but with gallons of blood and poteen instead of whisky and tea.
The Lieutenant in question is Padraic, a fervent republican and ardent cat lover who is deemed too mad for the IRA and who is now planning his own splinter group in a break away from the INLA. Julian Moore-Cook imbues Padraic with an utterly believable dichotomy of perspectives. At home with Tarantinoesque violence, he thoughtfully offers a menu of torture options to his hostage and won’t hesitate to bomb and butcher yet can wail like an anguished child over his beloved pet. Mairead is the 16 year old Irish beauty who can sing an Irish ballad like a celtic angel while cooly polishing her sniper skills by blinding the local cows. Katherine Devlin is excellent as the republican ingénue who is ultimately more terrifying than the combined force of the INLA.
Liverpool Everyman celebrates its 60th anniversary as a theatre that enjoys a reputation of being bold and innovative. This provocative production continues that proud tradition. McDonagh can divide opinion as a writer of Irish descent born in England yet writing so vividly on still sensitive issues in Ireland. Coming from Ireland myself and growing up during The Troubles I can recognise some of the potential issues but also how well this play reflects the duality and the complexity of human nature. This production does not shy away from the brutal violence or the madcap gallows humour often employed to cope with the horrific but also celebrates the humanity in all of us even when we are at our most inhumane.
Cash Holland as Ruth and Solomon Israel as Walter Lee in A Raisin in the Sun at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit: Ikin Yum.
Written by Lorraine Hansberry
Directed by Tinuke Craig
AHeadlong, Leeds Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse co-production
“Her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn.” These were the words of Martin Luther King Jnr spoken in 1965 at the funeral of playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry. Almost 65 years on, her seminal play A Raisin in the Sun remains just as powerful as it was when originally produced as the first play by a black woman on Broadway. This new production directed by Tinuke Craig celebrates the writing of the hugely talented Hansberry as successfully as her production of August Wilson’s Jitney in 2022.
This production has all the elements of a classic kitchen sink drama as three generations of the Younger family are crammed into a roach infested apartment with paper thin walls and a shared bathroom in Chicago. Times are changing and so are the fortunes of this family who are waiting on a life insurance payout. The Matriach, Lena aspires to buy a small home with a yard to plant flowers and finance her daughter through college. Walter Lee, her son is a dissatisfied dreamer who sees the money as a way out of his job as a chauffeur and into a life as an owner of a liquor store with a fleet of cars on his own driveway. His weary wife Ruth wants nothing more than to get out of this cramped apartment and soak in her very own bathtub. Beneatha, the daughter imagines a bright future as a doctor. Grandson, Travis would simply be happy with a bedroom rather than sleeping on the living room couch each night.
The issues confronting this family are societal racism, poverty and how it restricts our choices and the politics of housing which remain just as relevant today. Each character is fully fleshed out and has complexity and depth. Doreene Blackstock as Lena exudes grace and resilience as she attempts to tend to her children while struggling to understand their very different desires. There is a yawning chasm between a woman who once saw freedom as not being lynched and a yearning to own rather than be owned and the very different aspirations of her children. Solomon Israel as her son is not afraid to play the greedy hapless dreamer who eventually finds some honour. He moves fluidly between casual cruelty and drunken misogyny to moments of real tenderness as he tries to navigate being the man of the house and doing right by his family. Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman brings a light comic touch to her portrayal of Beneatha. At times a flouncing, petulant teenager with as many aspirational hobbies as boyfriends there is also emotional depth as a young woman desiring a career rather than a husband, and who has more faith in herself than in a God. Cash Holland may sometimes lean too much into the melodrama but is very believable as a young wife living with her husband’s family and desperate to escape the cramped living conditions. One of three sharing in his role as Travis, Josh Ndlovu is excellent as the young boy in the midst of all the family drama.
Image credit: Ikin Yum
The set design by Cécile Trémilières adds a dreamy realism. The sparse but perfectly clean furnishings illustrate the pride these women take in making the best of what is available to them, while the paper thin transparent walls highlight the lack of privacy and the tenuous nature of renting in an impoverished tenement. The dreamy, almost ghostly aspects of characters lit within the other rooms is highly evocative and perfectly alludes to the generations gone before who also dreamt of ownership and security.
The second Act looks at the repercussions of Lena buying property in a white area of Chicago. Ironically this is the most affordable option but it heralds a knock on the door from the politely “acceptable” face of racism as Karl from the Clybourne Park welcome committee offers to buy back the home from the family. Faced with the options to recoup the money Walter Lee has lost or have a home of their own despite the risks, the Younger family must make yet another monumental decision. A Raisin in the Sun was inspired by the poem Raison by Langston Hughes who asked What happens to a dream deferred? There will always be a multitude of answers to this question but this production gives its own response, and it is as powerful as Lorraine Hansberry first intended in 1959.
Patrick Heusinger as Jimmy in Paranormal Activity – A New Haunting Live on Stage at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit: Pamela Raith
Written by Levi Holloway
Directed by Felix Barrett
Co-produced by Leeds Playhouse and Simon Friend Entertainment
Courtyard Theatre, Leeds Playhouse
This brand new production is based on the highly successful horror film series Paranormal Activity whichbecamea globalcultural phenomenon. Paranormal Activity – A New Haunting Live on Stage is written by Levi Holloway and directed by Felix Barrett MBE, the Artistic Director of Punchdrunk. Thistheatre company is synonymous with the term immersive theatre with hugely successful and long running productions such as Sleep NoMore, The Drowned Man and mostrecently The Burnt City and Viola’sRoom. As a production which has been marketed with a deliberate policy of giving no details about content it follows the trademark Punchdrunk secrecy which lends itself well to ensuring maximum shock factor for this horror production as there are zero spoiler alerts. It has garnered its buzz from lovers of the horror genre and those theatre goers excited to see what Barrett can create in his first venture into working in a traditional theatre setting.
Sitting in darkness, a voice invites the audience to collectively close their eyes and contemplate the German term eigengraus meaningsignificant grey which is what we all see when we shut our eyes. The voice suggests that this gray is not a colour but is a place where we make contact with the Dead. A voice in the darkness is a perfect medium for hypnotic induction and so even before we see the stage our senses are becoming immersed in a collective sense of fear.
The set design by Fly Davis is like my childhood dolls house where the front slides off to reveal a two story home complete with stairs and landing. Filled with homely details it evokes a cosy normality that may still hint at an uneasy undercurrent and has a similar attention to detail that is typical of a Punchdrunk set where Barrett delights in dropping clues and meta references. This is a house on a typical London road where street lights glow and where car lights and flashing lights from emergency vehicles will occasionally illuminate the front windows. Where the outside sound of the incessant pelting rain of a British “summer” blends with sounds within a typical home where Alexa playing a chill out soundtrack is punctuated by the whistle of a kettle on the stove or the reassuring voice of Rachel from Countdown is on Channel 4. An American couple have recently moved into this pleasant home and are adapting to married life and adjusting to life in London having left Chicago. Jimmy has video chats with his overbearing Christian Mom while Lou likes to listen to podcasts about the supernatural. All seems well…
Patrick Heusinger as Jimmy and Melissa James as Lou in Paranormal Activity at LeedsPlayhouse. Image credit: Pamela Raith
The very naturalistic performances are uniformly strong and the tight, well paced writing by Levi Holloway is peppered with pithy dialogue and some very funny one- liners that give the characters real depth but also allows humour to offset the gnawing fear or at times misdirect it by creating light relief then sucker punching you with a sudden shocker. With the aid of some truly mind blowing illusions by Chris Fisher and superb use of sound, Gareth Fry and lighting by Anna Watson the immersive sensory elements suck you in and take the audience on an emotionally turbulent journey that is always so much more than simply just a great story arc.
The story deftly explores love and trust and how we navigate what we struggle to understand or make sense off. We are all hardwired to feel certain core emotions and one of those is Fear…we need to recognise it and react appropriately to stay safe in the world whether we are being chased by a wild animal like our early ancestors or navigating modern life. We tend to fear what we don’t understand and the popularity of the horror genre perhaps allows us to explore fear in a “safe” way. This production certainly plays with our fears and builds a creeping dread with the slow burn of an increasingly spine chilling horror.
Of course not everyone believes in the Paranormal…though some like Lou believe Places aren’t haunted, people are. This made me remember my first introduction to the Paranormal was in childhood when I frequently saw my dead grandmother standing at the bottom of my bed after her death in a car accident. I was never remotely afraid of her silent presence and was not entirely relieved when she stopped appearing. My mother told me years later that the “visits” only stopped after she put a Bible under my pillow. I wonder how many in the audience buy only a ticket for themselves but perhaps turn up with their own unseen Spirit who hasn’t paid their entrance fee or go home afterwards and check behind the doors for shadows?
The only major Spoiler for this production is that it has all the quality production values elements required to suggest a highly successful transfer to the London stage.
The Importance of Being Earnest at the Royal Exchange Theatre Image credit: Johan Persson
Written by Oscar Wilde
Directed by Josh Roche
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE
Designer Eleanor Bull may have discarded the elaborate furnishings and overblown costumes usually associated with a production of The Importance of Being Earnest but the exaggerated fakery of the overhanging blossoms and the floofy pink fake garden shrubbery perfectly evokes modern style over substance. Director Josh Roche demonstrates a real love of and clear understanding for Oscar Wilde‘swonderful wit and razor sharp analysis of the human condition. Using a modern setting for this Victorian classic works remarkably well as the allusions to Instagram and our fixation with documenting and exchanging every emotional experience for likes from virtual strangers aligns with Wilde’s enduring satire about what is actually profound and what is truly trivial.
This lively satire has always been a perfect showcase for the verbal dexterity and quicksilver mind of Wilde but here stripped back from all the frills, flounces and posturing is a chance to really listen to the eloquence and depth of the man’s emotional and intellectual process. The first Act sets the scene for Algernon and Jack to establish themselves as the bored city fops who are now seeking something new. Parth Thakerar ably conveys the studied nonchalance and easy arrogance of Algie while Robin Morrissey is all gangly limbs and exudes the nice but slightly dim awkwardness of Jack. Into the mix enters the formidable Lady Bracknell as Abigail Cruttenden who delivers a masterclass portrayal of a character utterly devoid of empathy but terrifying certain of the validity of her every opinion regardless of how misguided or ignorant it may sound.
Abigail Cruttenden as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Image credit: Johan Persson
It is Act 2 where the production really starts to fizz as the two young women who are central to this romantic caper finally meet. In a totally delicious face-off Cecily and Gwendoline oscillate between being “sisters in arms” and ferocious opponents as they both set their sights on marrying a man called Earnest. Phoebe Pryce excels as the initially diffident, decidedly beige daughter of Lady Bracknell whose laser like manic intensity for getting her Earnest is as funny as it is scary. Rumi Sutton as Cecily is every bit the pert, pretty and brattish teenager to win over Algernon. As the two women play a quickfire game of verbal table tennis it descends into thrusting mobile phones like rapiers as they duel for their men and quickly bond again like the Follow/Unfollow/Follow dance of social media relationships.
The other characters are all great foils to the central story and James Quinn playing several roles really ramps up the humour as he determinedly wields an especially noisy espresso machine or meanders across the stage with a leaf blower in the midst of a moment of heightened drama. This delightful romp is the perfect summer production to escape the dodgy weather and the the even dodgier politicians on the campaign trail. Wilde is rightly and gloriously celebrated in this production by Josh Roche, which may be a fresh take but retains all the joy of the original script.
Emmy Stonelake and Luke Sookdeo as Aster and Marc in Tell Me How It Ends at Liverpool Everyman. Image credit: Andrew AB Photography
Written by Tasha Dowd
Directed by Gitika Buttoo
LIVERPOOL EVERYMAN
It’s the 60th year of Liverpool Everyman and fittingly the theatre is celebrating by looking forward and showcasing new work. Tasha Dowd is a graduate of the theatre’s new writing programme for young people. Her debut play Tell Me How It Ends celebrates and commemorates a particular period of social history that has often gone under the radar in the story of the AIDS crisis. Focusing on the late 80’s and early 90’s the plays looks at the work of the lesbian community who tirelessly volunteered their time; in many instances their blood, sweat and tears to support all the men in Liverpool dying from AIDS and related illnesses.
This is a meticulously researched play that is filled with period appropriate cultural references and references local clubs in Liverpool at that time. The belting soundtrack includes Whitney Houston and The Communards and local Liverpool groups such as Echo And The Bunnymen and The Christians. Books and films are also central to the narrative as volunteer Aster attempts to connect with Marc though sharing books like Misery, The Silence of the Lambs and watching movies such as The Bodyguard together.
This two hander has Emmy Stonelake as Aster who is a lesbian supporting Marc played by Luke Sookdeo who is HIV and on AZT drug cocktails as the hospital struggle to increase his T cell count. Stonelake really shines in this role giving her character an awkward, bumbling charm and a dry, sly wit. Her initially infuriating habit of always giving away the endings of books and films becomes a poignant metaphor for what is to come as Marc’s life is cruelly cut short. Sookdeo struggles a bit in the early hospital scenes which simply require him to be weakened and warily resistant to Aster’s help. As his character gets physically stronger the Sookdeo starts to hit his stride and Marc becomes more fleshed out as the duo become firm friends.
There is a lovely choreography to the scenes as Grace Goulding makes use of every element of the clever set design by Katie Scott. There is energy and flow to scenes that move from the hospital to Aster’s flat, Marc’s B&B to the disco and the really captivating cinema scene. The story moves from the unlikely pairing sparring on a hospital ward to them making a bucket list to make the most of Marc’s remaining life. For such a young writer Tasha Dowd has a light touch and manages to avoid a mawkish drawn death scene. Aster’sbig final speech is genuinely heartfelt and impassioned but risks preaching to the converted.
In recent years there has been a lot more writing about this era and it’s impact as we grappled with the horror of HIV and AIDS. This production feels like filling in another part of the story of a particular group of volunteers and the people they supported. I worked on the telephone counselling lines in Manchester and helped organise the fundraising so I remember the tears, the rage, the fear and despair and the laughter. It was an extraordinary time and should never be forgotten. Tell Me How It Ends evokes the era extremely well and is as much about learning how to live on our own terms as it is about preparing for death in a way that gives an individual some autonomy.
The cast of My Fair Lady at Leeds Playhouse Image credit: Pamela Raith
Book and Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe
Directed by James Brining
LEEDS PLAYHOUSE and OPERA NORTH
This is a genuinely delightful production that is as delectable as a floral posy from Eliza’s basket. Director James Brining is clearly Team Eliza casting Katie Bird asastrongvibrant Eliza who has learned how to take care of herself and is not giving up her independence for anyone. As a gritty working class girl she may dream of ‘a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air’ but she never loses sight of the reality of her circumstances. This linguistics experiment and potential transformation might be an intellectual challenge for Professor Higgins but for Eliza it is a chance to strive for a more secure career not a passive assumption of acquiring a wealthy lover or husband. This Edwardian musical romp stays pretty close to the original which works well in a cost of living crisis where many head to their local library to keep warm just as Eliza warms herself at the street brazier and her father and his pals huddle in the cosy warmth of a gaslit pub.
This co-production with Opera North allows for the large scale scenes and gives power and vibrancy to the classic score. The orchestra led by Oliver Rundell fills the large Quarry Theatre and sounds pitch perfect for a production on this scale. The big musical numbers feel sumptuous and the chorus do a wonderful job of bringing these scenes to life aided by Lucy Hind‘s joyful choreography. There are some lovely touches such as the barbershop elements to numbers such as Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and the memorable crowd scenes at Ascot which are wittily portrayed using quirky photo boards to transform the chorus into the gentry. The Embassy Ball scene has real energy and perfectly portrays Eliza’s successful move into polite society. The clever staging by Madeleine Boyd allows for a very varied range of scenes and the two levels act as an effective allusion to the class division of Edwardian London.
Katie Bird as Eliza in My Fair Lady at Leeds Playhouse. Image credit: Pamela Raith
The chemistry between Katie Bird as Eliza and John Hopkins as Professor Higgins works well. Bird is earthy and feisty whereas Hopkins brings a loose-limbed laconic aspect to his Higgins that is both infuriating and endearing.The will they/won’t they get together element which was introduced in the original musical by Lerner & Loewe was never intended in George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion. Director James Brining brings a truth to the closing scenes in that both characters are irrevocably changed by the other but that may not be enough to bring them together. Eliza has newfound confidence in herself that is no longer just bravado whereas Higgins may have discovered that we are all capable of profound and deep feelings regardless of how we sound when we seek to articulate our innermost emotions.
John Hopkins and Dean Robinson as Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady. Image credit: Pamela Raith
The other main characters are well cast with Richard Mosley-Evans bringing warmth and a certain likability to his portrayal as England’s most “original moralist” and Eliza’s pragmatic father. Dean Robinson as the kindly Colonel Pickering is a good foil for the more belligerent and foolish antics of the Professor, as is the calming influences of an excellent Helen Évora and Molly Barker as the housekeeper and Mrs Higgins. Ahmed Hamad is boyishly sweet and naive as Freddy who is hopelessly enamoured of Eliza.
There can be real risks in blending operatic styles with musicals but here they are in perfect accord. Katie Bird soars when required but retains the capacity to delightfully butcher her vowels as she attempts to follow Higgins rather extreme teaching methods. What John Hopkins delivers vocally builds as the extremes of his character are revealed but most vitally he brings a delightful quirkiness that is quite captivating. My Fair Lady is a musical classic filled with songs that most of us remember from childhood and this production at Leeds Playhouse is a satisfyingly pleasurable experience for anyone already familiar with or experiencing this classic for the very first time. For the cast, the creatives and the crew…You did It. You Did It…Ev’ry bit of credit for it all (And the credit for it all) Belongs to you! (belongs to you!)
Pooky Quesnel and Carla Henry as Tracey and Cynthia in SWEAT at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Image credit: Helen Murray
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Jade Lewis
ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE
The ongoing cost of living crisis, the resurgence of strike action and current fears around the rise of AI in the creative industry is certainly having an impact on theatre productions across the North West. Currently Liverpool Everyman has The Legend Of Ned Ludd while the Royal Exchange Theatre has opted for a powerful piece by Lynn Nottage which was hailed by the New Yorker as “the first theatrical landmark of the Trump era” after it’s Broadway debut in 2017. SWEAT is a satisfyingly meaty production with strong performances all round that feels topical and relevant but Director Jade Lewis ensures never descends into earnest and preachy.
The play opens in 2008 with two young men attending their parole appointments. One is Aryan blond and boasts the facial tattoos of a white supremacist while the other is his apparent antithesis as a young black man carrying a bible. The play moves back in time to 2000 where we see these same young men are friends and workmates bonded from childhood through their mothers who are also lifelong friends and work colleagues all working in the same steel factory in Reading, Pensylvania. SWEAT zeroes in on the veryhumanstories that emerge when huge economic changes rupture communities, destroy established industries and the resulting fissures rip through friendships and inflame racial prejudice.
The young men are truly their mother’s sons. Of German descent Tracey is a feisty widow whose tough belligerent nature has served her and her son well in the gritty environment of the shopfloor in a steelworks. Pooky Quesnel is utterly believable in this play where all the scenes and dialogue are very naturalistic. She moves from warm and loyal friend to embittered and brittle when for her a lifetime of identity tied up in the workplace fragments into opiod addiction as the steelworks cuts costs by moving its operation to Mexico. Cynthia played by Carla Henry is more measured and like her son, looks beyond the shopfloor and has aspirations for a brighter future.
Kate Kennedy as Jessie with Carla Henry as Cynthia in SWEAT at the Royal Exchange. Image credit: Helen Murray
The other characters give the production warmth and texture. An always excellent Kate Kennedy brings humour and pathos in equal measure as the beauty and local lush who also also works on the shopfloor but dreams of lost opportunities. Jonathan Kerrigan is the kindly bartender who was maimed in an industrial accident at the plant and whose measured views give perspective on this complex narrative. The young Columbian bartender is American born yet like his father cannot get a union card so will only get a foot in the factory door by stepping over the picket lines and with horrific consequences.
The staging by GOOD TEETH is minimalist but effective and the bar setting works well as the social epicentre for the workers to come together to celebrate birthdays and mourn losses and disappointments. The huge concrete blocks that occasionally sway precariously or emit showers of sparks are like an ominous sword of Damacles looming over the factory, it’s workers and indeed American democracy. The use of steel throughout the bar framework is also a neat allusion to the brooding presence of the steelworks.
SWEAT has a steely thread that runs through its narrative. Friendships and community cohesion are at the core of industry… when it thrives so do the people. When those making the big decisions in air-conditioned offices take a wrecking ball to the stability of local industry then those local communities are decimated. SWEAT is a searing indictment of poorly conceived economic decisions and casts a haunting spotlight on the human cost.
THE ACCOUNTANTS at AVIVA STUDIOS Image credit: Tristram Kenton
Director and Set Designer Keith Khan
THE HALL, AVIVA STUDIOS
THE ACCOUNTANTS delves into exploring the contemporary culture of modern China and India by exploding myths and throwing light upon these two vibrant countries who are becoming increasingly prominent in the 21st century. Multi-disciplinary artist Keith Khan is known for his ambitious and dramatic work that explores culture and this deep dive into the cultural worlds of these two superpowers is no exception. This hybrid of dance, sound and video is linked by an intimate thread of very human interaction played out in text and voice notes. The result is a kaleidoscopic journey that crosses continents and vast populations inundated with information from the Internet but culminates in the lasting beauty that is human beings coming together in dance and connecting in a moment where there is no distraction and each one is enough in their own right.
The first half of this ambitious production is quite literally a shock to the senses. The video designers from Manchester based art and design studio idontloveyouanymore once again showcase their imaginative and innovative designs. The vast backdrop to the stage is a projection screen that bombards with numbers, statistics, factual information and images. Either side of the stage are two giant smartphones belonging to the central characters, Liam and his favourite “non auntie” Auntie Kash. He is a young man of British/Chinese heritage visiting China and India in a bid to understand his cultural heritage and discover who he truly is as a person while she is his Mum’s close friend who is of Indian descent but has only ever lived in Britain. Josh Hart and Shobna Gulati are never on stage but their relationship plays out in their messages and voice notes as Liam explores a world where he feels increasingly frustrated at both discovering he is no longer a minority in a country but is also a cultural tourist who cannot speak the language. He quickly discovers the reality of the countries he visits is often very different to what is portrayed on the Internet.
There are two dance companies on stage both making their International debut in Britain. From India comes Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company choreographed by Terence Lewis and MahrukhDumasia and from China, Xiexin Dance Theatre choreographed by Xie Xin. The twelve dancers onstage start out looking scarily similar in grey suits and generic bob wigs and seem to almost fade into the background like your proverbial stereotypical accountant. It’s initially frustrating and mildly stressful trying to simultaneously focus on the dancers while also paying attention to images onscreen and on the smartphones. The dance performances can seem blurred and the minutiae of movements sometimes feel lost but that is clearly the intention of Keith Khan as increasingly the actions on stage mirror the daily bombardment we all face in a fast paced world where the population growth and the online data growth is exploding exponentially.
The second half of the production is a very different beast. The phone messages reduce dramatically and the giant projection screen slowly rises to open up a strikingly cavernous backstage giving the dancers a vast space to fill. It’s no mean feat but fill it they most certainly do. Stripped back from all the distractions and discarding the wigs that make them appear so uniform there is now nothing but six Chinese dancers and six Indian dancers who start to explore each other’s culture and dance disciplines to emerge as a cohesive whole. All three choreographers involved faced huge adversities attempting to not only find commonality in their practice but to do a lot of this work on Zoom before finally coming together in a physical space. The result works beautifully with the music and sound design from Somatic. The dancers create a space for both companies to work separately and together. Vibrant energy meets taut precision and the dance is sometimes fluid and others tensile as bodies jerk like firing neurons. There are haunting moments where some are so far back and motionless that they resemble shadowy statues like the Antony Gormley installation Another Place. As the dancers work and merge together there is a palpable shift in their energy. Tiny hand movements etc that are ingrained in each other’s dance culture start to infiltrate the choreography and create a potent sense of what we gain when we try to understand another culture.
THE ACCOUNTANTS is undoubtedly a huge creative undertaking requiring artistic risks as well as benefits. It feels very relevant to the space and the artistic vision at AVIVA STUDIOS which Factory International has worked so hard to develop. On a personal note the production hit an artistic high note when the projection screen rose to reveal that huge shadowy floorspace. In that moment it felt like Factory had recaptured the magic and majesty of previous MIF performances at Old Mayfield Depot.
