53Two – Live Art Alive

COCK

Written by Mike Bartlett

Directed by Rupert Hill

HER PRODUCTIONS/ Up Ere Productions

53Two

This 2009 play by Mike Bartlett caused quite a stir in London and New York when originally staged. The dilemma of a man hopelessly procrastinating over whether to choose to continue a life with his male partner of seven years or start afresh with a woman he has recently met when on a relationship break makes for an interesting premise. Perhaps originally viewed as a gritty exploration of a gay man trying to come to terms with being bisexual, COCK is much more nuanced. This Pinteresque drama is a blistering analysis of one man’s indecisiveness as he wrestles not just with his sexuality but his very sense of Self. Seemingly powerless to make a clear decision in his personal life, this production highlights just how destructive and controlling John’s behaviour is precisely because of his wavering. His partner M and new lover W are seemingly locked into this love triangle by John’s unwillingness to choose one of them as he refuses to label his sexual desire. Is he simply a selfish man wanting his cake with extra cock and cunt or is he genuinely torn with a human desire that defies a neat societal label?

Director Rupert Hill confidently tackles the complex issues raised in this meaty play. He is ably supported by a very strong cast. Joe Gill is John, the procrastinating partner whose wavering indecision makes him oblivious to the cruel impact his actions have on M and W. Gill gives John a certain likability despite the pain he inflicts on those he loves. There is genuine poignancy in this internal struggle with identity and the societal pressure to conform to the expectations of others. John O’Neill bristles with raw hurt, frustration and insecurity and misogyny. Totally immersed in his character his performance is mesmerising even off stage when he watches John and W with an almost voyeuristic intent.

John O’Neill and Joe Gill in COCK at 53Two Image credit: Shay Rowan

Hannah Ellis Ryan is gutsy and vibrant as W; intensely set on getting John to choose her. It’s easy to see the attraction she draws from John as her character enthrals him with her positivity and enthusiasm. The scene where John discovers heterosexual sex is witty and perfectly pitched and Ellis Ryan nails it. With legs akimbo at one end of the bare stage, she gleefully sets the scene with a pose reassembling a goalpost awaiting a winning penalty goal. Colin Connor is the father hell-bent on protecting his son’s relationship with a mixture of floundering confusion and genuine love for both men. This performance adds real rich humour and warmth to the dinner party from hell as the other chief protagonists battle over John.

It’s a credit to the production and the actors that some of the raw edges in this Bartlett play matter less than they should. It would be easy to dismiss John as not worth either characters love, or wonder if W is not just a tad obsessed or that M is coercive and controlling. Instead the focus is on the electrifying energy on the stage which seems powerful enough to charge the four lamps that mark the corners of this otherwise unadopted stage. The sound arrangement by Alec Waters is the only other adornment to subtly reflect the emotional charge onstage and does so very effectively. The closing scene gives no really satisfying conclusion and here it doesn’t need to as the acting itself is the icing on this cake.

53TWO 13th – 17th November 2024

CRAVE

Small Theatres

Written by Sarah Kane

Directed by Chris Lawson

53TWO

CRAVE is the penultimate play by controversial playwright Sarah Kane. It was first performed shortly before her suicide at 28 and was dedicated to Mark Ravenshill writer of Shopping and Fucking. She was part of the 90’s movement In-Yer-Face Theatre and was known for her use of violence, unlikeable characters and shocking material. Unlike her other plays, CRAVE is written in a fragmentary style with no stage directions and 4 characters only identified by the initials A,B,C and M who may be elements of separate entities or simply aspects of one very troubled consciousness. Running at about 55 minutes, this is not an easy or comfortable watch but rather a murky and fascinating merging of cast and audience as the plays’ intensity seeps and swirls around the space. The staging in this dark, dank railway arch at 53TWO adds to the insidious horror of what can lurk in the real world and how it impacts the darker recesses of a troubled psyche.

Director Chris Lawson creates an almost prayer- like litany as his sensitive blocking allows for these fragmented beings to take form then fade off but never entirely disappear as another voice emerges. The lighting is highly effective in occasionally illuminating certain lines or characters yet sometimes plunging the stage into blackness leaving simply a disembodied voice. At times languid and poetic, then erratic and frenzied, the pacing sometimes shifts suddenly to laserlike focus such as the soliloquy by Jake Ferrettis’ A where its taut tenacity is truly haunting. Lawson has done a great job of allowing his cast to be equally vulnerable and repugnant while always utterly fascinating.

This is no mean feat for a cast dealing with sparse dialogue that is often just a single line. Although peppered with a strange sort of violent poetry, the dialogue is at times not enough in itself to fully carry and elevate this work. The cast are excellent as they give each other space and create a musicality rather like a well oiled string quartet. Always on stage, they all maintain a physicality that is arresting but never distracts from another character speaking. Matthew Heywood as B and Elizabeth Meadows as C are the younger characters and they both give raw performances vividly evoking the pain and trauma of abuse. Jake Ferretti as A is scarily intense as a moralistic paedophile whose piercing soliloquy lingers like a damp chill long after leaving the theatre. Etta Fusi as M is a study in languid regret and despair with the slow burn of her sensual physicality bringing real depth to her performance.

CRAVE asks is ecstasy just a lack of grief? This painful and ambiguous study delves into a mind at war with itself and the push pull struggle of redemptive hope against the eviserating pain of trauma and mental illness. When first performed in 1998 it was viewed as the most hopeful of Kane’s plays yet the writer saw it as the bleakest saying her earlier works were written by someone “who believed utterly in the power of love”. However it is interpreted, it is a potent reminder the power and range of human consciousness.

CRAVE was produced at 53TWO 31st May to 4th June 2023 by HER Productions

Tinned Up

Large Theatres, Uncategorized

Written by Chris Hoyle

Directed by Simon Naylor

Oldham Coliseum

As a writer Chris Hoyle consistently delivers sparkling dialogue that has a rich northern tone, a big heart and a genuine social conscience. Tinned Up may have been written ten years ago, but its relevance today has the same power to arrest and perturb. Staged in Oldham where community spirit remains vibrant, this new version is directed by Simon Naylor of 53Two – a much respected local theatre who are currently between homes due to the surge in inner city re-development. Casting is firmly Northern too and is headed up by the wonderful Karen Henthorn who like Naylor was part of the team involved in Chris Hoyle’s highly successful The Newspaper Boy.

The staging by designer David Howell creates an utterly believable cosy home that Shirley has spent 34 years living in. The outside world might be tinned up but inside these four walls is someone’s home where they have lived their life and built forged their memories. This home houses an indomitable spirit that has spent 7 years refusing to give in to the local council and the private developers. Karen Henthorn is fabulous as the gutsy Shirley whose warmth and stubborn resolve ensures that even those who have left Langworthy are pulled back to their old community to support her. Her performance coupled with the wonderful dialogue Hoyle gives his central character can easily stand confidently alongside the best kitchen sink dramas.

There are some great performances playing off the lead with an especially lovely relationship between Shirley and her young neighbour Daz. Keaton Lansley has real chemistry as Daz and balances humour with real emotional depth as a young man nurtured and encouraged by Shirley to strive for better things in his life. The living room scene with Lynn Roden as Beryl where the two middle aged women reminsce as they get pissed on ouzo is rich with bawdy humour and the poignancy of intertwined memories.

There are some wonderful moments in this production and hopefully opening night will have ironed out some timing issues and fluffed lines. The direction also lacks some of the tightness and lightness of touch that Simon Naylor displayed in The Newspaper Boy. There are several points in the first act and most notably in the final scene where the pacing slows down or appears a little unfocused.

The stomach wrenching moment in this piece is when a muddled Shirley runs out unto her street to share news with her neighbours only to be gently caught by Daz. That street and community has long gone and she is alone…They’re all tinned up, every last one of them. The final street party and the inevitable ending reflect the ebb and flow of progress. The mundane flushing of a toilet as a life ends, making way for wet rooms, upside down houses and another generation of communities… for better or worse remains to be seen.

Main House Takeover Oldham Coliseum 24th-26th Sept 2019

Images by Shay Rowan

The Newspaper Boy

Small Theatres, Uncategorized

53Two

Written by Chris Hoyle

Directed by Simon Naylor

A Dibby Theatre production

Part of Queer Contact 2018

From start to finish The Newspaper Boy is a real joy to watch. Writer Chris Hoyle has such a natural ear for dialogue and a genuine affection for his characters ensuring they are all warm, earthy and colourful. The look and feel of this production is absolutely 1992 from the iconic television ads to the music of New Order and the clothes by John Richmond and Comme des Garçons. This is a real labour of love and perfectly evokes the joy and the anguish of coming out in the Nineties.

The cast do a great job as an ensemble. Christian is on a high speed trajectory from Moston to Didsbury via the nation’s tv screens and Daniel Maley is great as the naive, awkward boy who may be growing up too fast but is having a brilliant time until the newspapers break the scandal. He has the super confident soap veteran Mandy as his ballsy guide to drugs, clubs and fashion. Hollie-Jay Bowes is totally believable as the sweet ingenue/spoilt brat/faghag who just wants to get wankered and not have another cute guy love her like a fucking sister!! The fifteen year old Christian falls in love with the older boy Max who Sam Retford embodies with charm and genuine honour and sweetness.

Director Simon Naylor directs the sex scenes with genuine tenderness . This is a coming of age in a really special and joyful way that is later brutalized and cheapened by an ignorant media obsessed with the moral high ground and the desire to sell newspapers. When Christian says I’m proud of us it is said with a naivety about the personal, social and possible legal repercussions. Regardless of this Chris Hoyle has written young love in a joyous way that anyone could be proud off.

The older cast members bring additional depth to this story and of course were young people in the Nineties so can draw on their experiences. Eve Steele gives a chilly television executive in Burberry and heels but blisters with her genius take on a Manc drug dealer on the club scene. Samantha Siddall as Christian’s Mum is perfectly cast as the proud parent basking in the glory of a famous child while still worrying for his well-being. Karen Henthorn is just brilliant as the feisty, chain smoking Gran who adores Christian. Her performance shifts from impish to red eyed and broken, with the stuffing knocked out of her as the scandal unfolds.

The staging works really well and built over several levels allows for creative space to move the action on stage across a range of settings. The family home in Moston to soap star Mandy’s place in Didsbury via Flesh night at The Haçienda and the Granada studio offices and the set for famous soap Mancroft Walk. The energy ramps up a gear as a throng of tv crew thrust through the audience to film another scene on set. The audience are watching this unfold on stage while overhead monitors play out the filmed scene. A large tv screen above Christian’s bed shows scenes from the soap as the family watch Christian and Mandy on scene as the young lovers. Interspersed with iconic Nineties ads for Gold Blend and Milky Way the feeling of slipping back 25 years becomes stronger and stronger. It is a clever and impressive use of this small, bustling theatre. 53Two is quickly becoming a hugely exciting space to see theatre in Manchester.

Based on some of Hoyle’s personal experience as a child actor on Coronation Street, this play highlights the hypocrisy of television programming that storylines teenage pregnancy by a teacher but baulks at teenage gay sex with another young man. Staged as part of Queer Contact 2018 this is a funny and poignant take on an important subject.

Images by Richard Kelly

At 53Two until Saturday 24th February