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.
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.
Live Art Alive 