Tag: Eve Steele

Work It Out

Large Theatres
The cast of Work It Out at HOME
Photo credit:Chris Payne

Written by Eve Steele

Directed by Sarah Frankcom

HOME

Work It Out shines a light on the week to week experience of a disparate group of vulnerable individuals as they start to form bonds within a dance fitness class they have been prescribed at their local Community Centre. The naturalistic setting and the format of weekly sessions allows writer Eve Steele to deftly explore the journeys that each of her characters experience as they attempt to change their lives. It also gives Steele a perfect platform for an unashamedly polemic rant about a broken Britain where the most vulnerable in the population are increasingly isolated and unsupported. This could be a hard hitting, grim litany of despair but instead Steele imbues her characters with sufficient warmth and humour to ensure there is also a sense of hope as her characters re-engage with a love of life and all its possibilities.

Eve Steele as Siobhan in Work It Out at HOME Photo credit: Chris Payne

The motley crew are all dealing with their own demons. Pensioner and Grandma Marie is both feisty and vulnerable with her anxieties masked by brusqueness and antipathy. Eithne Brown embodies this elderly hoarder with compassion and humour as she gradually opens up to the group and starts to regain some confidence. Raffie Julien plays her deaf granddaughter who having fallen out of love with music and dance has retreated to a world where her primary social engagement is with her phone. This is a beautiful performance and Julien shines as the prickly young woman who starts to regain joy and freedom in dance as she also makes new friends. The use of BSL throughout the production is seamlessly blended and works especially well within the fluid choreography of the whole production. Compulsive eater Colette initially tries to blend into the nondescript walls but Eva Scott blossoms on the dance floor as she connects with her repressed emotions. Writer Eve Steele is Siobhan, a heroin addict attempting to beat the drugs and  the System while trying to get her daughter out of Care. Her character is  both frustratingly disruptive in the class yet also acts as a catalyst for change in others that tragically she can sustain for herself. As always Steele is utterly believable as this chaotic and desperate woman who has suffered multiple traumas since childhood.

Dominic Coffey as Shaq and Raffie Julien as Rebecca in Work It Out at HOME
Photo credit: Chris Payne

The men here are interesting characters who despite their issues seem readily at ease amongst the predominantly female class. Aaron McCusker as Rab is a recovering alcoholic finding solace in acerbic one-liners and reiki. There is a bleak stoicism in his determination to live despite his own child wishing him dead. Dominic Coffey as Shaq has been through the care system and his burgeoning dance skills compete with his tics and stimming. The seemingly perfect class teacher played by Elizabeth Twells unites these characters but is woefully unprepared for the issues that erupt and she soon reveals herself as equally vulnerable and just as in need of a support group.

There is much to like in this production. Jennifer Jackson has done a brilliant job with the movement and choreography which is very impactful especially in scenes such as Coffey’s solo dance to a great version Creep by Radiohead. Katie Scott has created a set that embodies every detail of a down at heel community space. For Eve Steele and Director Sarah Frankcom this has clearly been a labour of love and the naturalistic direction feels like a homage to the wonderful Annie Baker. There are however issues with the overall length of the play and the pacing. The first half feels too long and risks losing its momentum on several occasions and there are occasions where the dialogue is hard to hear during some dance sequences. Overall Work It Out is a well written piece with a big heart. It celebrates the redemptive quality of kindness and the vital importance of community in our increasingly fractured world. It also highlights the hidden tragedy of those who are often better at helping others than knowing how to truly help themselves.

HOME 1st – 16th March 2024

TRIAL

Site Specific, Uncategorized

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Site specific – Bolton Grand Council Chamber.

Part of Reveal 18

Written by Rosina Carbone, Nisa Cole, Sarah McDonald Hughes and Eve Steele

Directed by Martyn Gibbons

Monkeywood Theatre in association with the Octagon Theatre, Bolton

I am a liar. We run, down the steps, past the celebration, past the crowds. He is not guilty and I am a liar.

Bolton Grand Council chamber was once an actual courtroom. Sitting in this space feels alien, slightly scary like maybe I’ve done something wrong. An authoritative voice says “All Rise” and so Trial starts with four women in a courtroom performing a verbatim piece that is the framework for this new piece by Monkeywood Theatre. Chillingly the words we hear are transcripts from an actual court case about the historical grooming and sexual abuse of young girls. Interspersed through the transcript are 4 original pieces written and performed by the 4 actresses on stage. They share a common theme, highlighting women on trial in the courtroom and in society – women’s experience of being disbelieved, discounted, shamed and vilified.

This is a strong and powerful piece which conveys its #MeToo message eloquently and is at times incredibly poignant, hauntingly sad and is at all times a strong statement that change must come in our legal system and our Society. The verbatim pieces are perhaps the weak link in this piece but that is most likely due to how they struggle to flow, undoubtedly hindered by the information rescinded to protect the individuals involved. However it remains a searing indictment of our legal system and its treatment of women on the witness stand in sexual assault cases. A study by the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service) found in a 17 month period there were with 6000 rape prosecutions and only 35 for false allegations, yet only 6% of complaints resulted in convictions.

Astral Twin by Rosina Carbone is a two hander highlighting the callous and vicious bullying and systematic shaming of young girls in school. It perfectly describes the in group/ out group mentality in the classroom. How we can all shine and blossom in the warmth of acceptance and friendship but shiver and shrivel when that warmth is removed. Carbone infuses this piece with a poetic flow and evokes some beautiful imagery that creates a vivid snapshot of lost friendships and the unfairness of double standards for girls.

Muck by Nisa Cole is a monologue describing a schoolgirl being groomed by a teacher with a catastrophic outcome for her education and her future. It is a powerfully written and performed – electrifying the space with the brutal unfairness of a vulnerable child discounted and written off because of her background. Cole bring an emotive physicality to this role that is mesmerising and haunts long after the performance ends.

Small Town by Sarah McDonald Hughes describes a young woman who likes a drink and going out with her friends to party and meet boys. Her character is fun loving and carefree until an assault results in rape and a lurid court case. This piece snapshots the double standards for men and women and is an acute observation on the lasting harm of being raped twice over by the assailant and by society. All the positives of loving being a girl and loving family and football are stripped away, leaving only alcohol as a constant comforter and ballast.

Unreliable by Eve Steele brings all 4 women on stage as prisoners going into court to plead their cases or in the case of Steele to be a witness against her uncle in a historic abuse case. This is a women already wounded and irrevocably damaged by her early experiences and therefore somehow unreliable as a witness against her abuser. There is simply no happy ending for some of these women and Steele’s performance crackles and fizzes with the injustice of her situation compares to the regard and protection afforded by society to her abuser.

I saw this piece in development at Reveal17 and it has clearly been a labour of love, tenderness and justifiable outrage. The stories told all ring true and authentic. Working as a psychotherapist I have listened to similar haunting stories and the importance of being heard and really listened to is always tantamount to any path to healing. There has clearly been a lot of work done with women’s support groups so this piece is an important validation for the women in those groups. Trial is a powerful piece that has a lot to say for women for women who are often voiceless. I was slightly surprised to find that the director was a man however men are also affected by assaults to sisters, mothers, partners, daughters, granddaughters and friends. Martin Gibbons has ensured that it is the women in this piece who are clearly heard and remembered.

Part of Reveal 18 until April 28th