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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Almost 100 members of Stage2 fill the stage in a hard hitting world premiere of Claire Dowie's new play Hard Working Families
Stage2
The Crescent Theatre
***** WHEN I was growing up in the 1950s and
60s Claire Dowie’s new play would have been seen as a very dystopian
view of a bleak future lying in wait for us. Then the latch key kid was an object of pity with
a working mum either finding sympathy as she bravely battled to keep the
wolf from the door, or, despised as a materialistic madam putting
holidays and possessions above bringing up her children. Today though, yesterday’s view of dystopia is,
sadly, the world we live in and in
There is Natalie, played with a lovely innocence
by Violette Townsend-Sprigg and her stay-at-home mum, played in suitable
comfortable, matronly fashion by Izzy Jones Rigby. A homely family
living with grandad, played by Dan Nash, making an excellent fist of
playing an old man, and bringing the past to life through the exploits
of gran. Tales of peace marches, women’s lib and that time
of hope and dreams of utopia, the 60s when anything seemed possible.
Then there were the 80s when the idea of greed is good and profit is all
that matters took hold; then on to today where latch key kids have been
commercialised with before and after clubs at schools and stay at home
mums are regarded as scroungers contributing nothing to society. Except being a full time mum is a full time job
in Natalie’s mum’s eyes and she is happiest baking and cooking for her
family – biscuits a speciality – being there whenever she is needed. On the other side we have Dennis, played with a
sad air of a little boy lost by Amit Mevorach, and his mum played with
cold emotion by Rosie Nibet. She is another single mum, and equally
single minded but her focus is not family but work and Dennis is left,
with generous funding of course, to fend for himself. Mum sees what
little time she spends with her son as somehow superior to being there
all the time – after all it is quality time, if anyone has worked out
what that really means. Natalie and Dennis’s friends are a microcosm of a
polarised society; Natalie’s are far from rich, state educated, with a
likely future as wage slaves while Dennis’s are wealthy, public school
and with the connections for the best, most powerful jobs. Around them we have Maya Bennett as an
overworked, under-resourced A&E nurse, Aldora Lekegaj as a postman who
finds her round has been doubled taking away the enjoyment and caring
aspect of her job. Hana Ali is a banker who is finding helping people is
not part of banking any more while Jacob Otomewo is a boss running a
company and caring for his workers . . . until times get rough and its
every boss for himself. Then we have the politician, played with
delicious smarminess by Emily Cremins, who tells us we are all in this
together – now haven’t we heard that somewhere before. Perhaps George
Orwell might have qualified it that some are in it rather deeper than
others. When Dennis and Natalie become close friend It is a clash which sees worker against bosses,
with a few common scapegoats responsible for society’s ills of course,
such as immigrants, benefit cheats and scroungers – real happy families
v the Daily Mail stuff.
There are references to changing attitudes, the
days of strikes at Leyland and in the car industry when the unions, in
many eyes, went too far and had to be curbed, raising the interesting
question of how far is too far, especially when set against the wealth
and lifestyles of those seeing it as too far, or perhaps too close for
comfort. There is even a game show to win jobs with a
gloriously camp host, Mr Showbiz, played wonderfully by Jack Deakin
where contestants vie for jobs with the top prize, an establishment post
going to a toff and the zero hours contract on minimum pay as a cleaner
being all that is left for Natalie’s mum as she is pushed into work by
Natalie who wants to be more like Dennis without realising the price she
will pay for that. It is a job that leaves her too tired and with
too little time to bake, get retrained or obtain qualifications, yet
leaves her £1 a week better off. We see the wealthy and their quest for latest,
newest, most in, along with a clever video set of ads for things no one
could possible need but would inevitable sell, such as anti-wrinkle
cream for children. Then there is a where are they now edition of the
game show with Unlucky Brian who won a job at Woolworths, then worked at
HMV and finally Blockbuster – how he missed jobs at Comet and MFI is a
mystery! It all comes to a head when the bubble bursts and
P45s are handed out like sweeties and the job centre, run by a
remarkably uncaring Meg Luesley, is swamped. Meg copes admirably with a
couple of complex speeches incidentally. And amid the chaos there is a hint of compromise
as Dennis’s
As always Liz Light’s direction is a marvel. I
suspect you could give her a cross city line timetable to stage and she
would make it look interesting, if nothing else, using every inch of
space on stage and around the auditorium. As is usual with Stage2 there is a cast of
thousands, or at least approaching 100, yet under Light’s direction,
they move as one as a Greek chorus, or in ensemble pieces create a
tableau of characters, everyone with a part to play, everyone with their
own role, no one merely making up the numbers or cluttering up the
stage.
As a director you will always see things that
were not quite right, it goes with the territory, but as an audience
there were no errors to be seen. It was fast paced, not a cue appeared
to be missed and it was full of youthful enthusiasm and life. A mention too for the
band, cleverly hidden behind a scrim, with Charlie Reilly on keys, Alex
Earle on drums, Mark James on guitar – the trio also directed and filmed
the adverts - and George Mee on bass; they were superb with everything
from Dylan’s The Times They Are A-changin’,
to Pulp’s Common People,
and Madonna’s Material Girl
to Kaiser Chief’s The Angry Mob. On a simple, effective set, this is a politically
charged piece, and although it would hardly take a forensic psychologist
to decide where Claire Dowie’s sympathies lie, this is not an evening of
propaganda. She lays out extremes. A mother bringing up her child as a
full time mother, or bringing up her child as a bread winner, winning
lots of bread, which, of necessity with a high powered job, means
replacing motherhood with materialism. It is a world where everyone is expected to work
but the division of spoils can hardly be seen as equal and where parenst
work till five or later, while children finish school at three; a world,
in Dowie's words, where looking after your own children is seen as
skiving, yet looking after someone else's is work. Dowie gives examples,
provides scenarios and what is a deceptively powerful piece and it is up
to the audience to reach their own conclusions. It’s a world premiere of Dowie’s work and
Stage2's hard working cast have done it proud. To 16-01-16. Roger Clarke
07-01-16 |
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this
world premiere production Dowie contrasts the two worlds of then and now
through the lives of two families, their friends and the people around
them.
s
there is the inevitable clash of cultures with Dennis envious of the
closeness of family and having a mum full time enjoyed by Natalie while
she covets a life where every want from X-box to exotic holidays is
there for the asking.
mum’s
company fails while Natalie’s mum’s biscuits are the stuff of legend; we
leave the pair, the biscuit maker and businesswoman, shaking hands one
what appears to be a new venture,