The Wonderful World of Dissocia – YEP at Playhouse Studio Liverpool – 05/11/2015 & 06/11/2015

When the company of this new Young Everyman Playhouse production of Anthony Neilson’s play have gone to such lengths to keep us guessing, even so far as not providing programmes until after the performance, I am reluctant to post this commentary until after the final performance.

However, as the play was first produced in its present form over a decade ago, its unconventional and deliberately disconcerting two act form and mysterious unravelling is well documented.

A Quote from Neilson in the pre-publicity suggests a kind of Alice in Wonderland but with more sex and violence, and he has also been known to liken the first act to the Wizard of Oz. But the Alice reference seems very clear as the chief protagonist, Lisa Jones, descends not so much down a rabbit hole as in an elevator in search of an hour she has lost. It seems that she crossed the date line in a plane at the same time as the clocks went back – don’t worry – it all becomes clear, but not until after the interval.

On her unlikely quest Lisa meets a range of fantastical characters, from a pair of insecurity guards (possibly channelling Tweedledum and Tweedledee) to a scapegoat and singing polar bear. The people of the land of Dissocia in which she finds herself seem domineered by a mad queen with a penchant for oatcakes and dogged by unhelpful public servants all working to their own peculiar brand of logic.

It is only in act two that everything falls into place but not until the audience is led perplexingly back into the auditorium via a completely different route, to find the room changed almost beyond recognition. In this much shorter segment (barely more than a quarter of the whole play) every scene recalls to mind the characters and events of act one as we learn of Lisa’s struggle to cope with mental illness.

It is deeply moving stuff, but served up with copious amounts of surreal humour, and it is to the huge credit of YEP under the direction of Chris Tomlinson that they not only pull it off but do so with tremendous success.

Lisa is played by Naimh McCarthy (Wed & Thur) and Poppy Hughes (Fri & Sat) and it is staggering to think that both actors have prepared the weighty part for just two performances, while doubling other roles on their other nights. I managed to see one performance by each of them and was struck by the way that both made the part their own while entirely buying in to the director’s concept of the piece.

A multi-skilled cast who I am not going to begin to count because of the complicated role-doubling (but there are a dozen or so of them!) succeed in bringing lucidity to the host of weird and wonderful characters they play while demonstrating again the company’s strong use of stage movement, bringing the tiny Studio space to vivid life. We even discover musical talents including a saxophonist and a beat boxer in their midst.

Along with our two Lisas, there are some very strong performances, including Isobel Balchin’s stoical Jane and Alice Corrigan’s Britney. The two insecurity guards James Bibby and Stuie Dagnall at first appear as likely candidates for the panto, but Bibby later turns to a far darker form of comedy and Dagnall also gives us a really delicate performance as Lisa’s partner Vince. Elliot Davis shows remarkable skill and subtlety of movement, with every twitch and blink carefully measured.

Set, lighting and sound designs are to the same high standards of imagination and technical skill that we’ve come to expect from YEP.

There is a great deal to remember this production for, from its fearless approach to discussing not just Dissociative Identity Disorder but mental health in general, to the sheer joy of seeing so much emerging talent displayed again by this vibrant company. YEP continue to offer us an optimistic view of the future of Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse.

YEP publicity design for The Wonderful World of Dissocia

Until They Kick Us Out – YEP at Liverpool Everyman Theatre – 26/02/2015

I'm Satire - or, if you didn’t get your English GCSE, Taking the Piss…

Last year Young Everyman Playhouse stormed the new Everyman stage and took possession of the space with “The Grid”. This week they continue their path to world domination by forming their own political party, for which Until They Kick Us Out stands as a manifesto.

In last night’s post-show debate it became clear that, when you get them to really think about it, people in general – young and old alike – are not so much disengaged with politics as with politicians and the parties they represent - they’re all the same, and they’re all rubbish. How then do you convince someone who’s turning 18 that it’s worth registering and casting their vote when faced with the rhetoric and in-fighting that characterises the run up to an election?

This 90 minute show has grown out of extensive discussions YEP members have had about what politics does and doesn’t mean to them. Often theatre devised and developed this way can become episodic but YEP, under the direction of Matt Rutter and Chris Tomlinson, have woven their stories into a tapestry in which a very clear picture emerges. The performers have dug deep and uncovered individual experiences, sometimes funny, often painful but always telling, that enable them to connect the personal with the global.

These personal experiences punctuate and inform a narrative in which, scene by scene, the case for engaging with the political debate and making your vote count is powerfully made. Until They Kick Us Out injects the often dry subject of politics with YEP’s inimitable energy and makes for a genuinely thrilling piece of theatre.

The 33 listed performers appear as a chorus, and it is impossible to credit them individually, but there are a great many stand-out performances, and everyone will leave the theatre with a personal list of faces they will be looking out for in future.

There are some very witty scenes as the chorus explore political history and education, particularly in an almost Pythonesque mockery of the suffragette movement, and the use of strong movement and music has particular effect as the show builds to its defiant conclusion.

Special mention must go to the movement director Grace Goulding, who has choreographed the piece like a well-oiled machine, and to the team of YEP technicians for their high-impact sound and lighting work.

Until They Kick Us Out is guaranteed to deliver the tingle factor and to leave you wanting more, but hurry – it closes on Saturday night.

Postscript: UTKUO revives for 3 more performances on 28, 29 and 30 April in the run up to the election, which sees a cast member stand for the Wavertree constituency.

(N.B. This review is also published at seenliverpool.com)

Photo (c) Brian Roberts

Half Baked – Young Theatre Makers at Liverpool Playhouse Studio – 31/10/2014

You somehow feel that none of the young staff of Renée’s bakery are going to be winning the Great British Bake-off anytime soon with their hapless efforts, but Alex Joynes new piece certainly rises to the occasion and there is no soggy bottom in this warm-hearted play about teenagers coming to terms with the struggles and disappointments that life throws at them.

The struggling high street independent is under a hostile takeover from Cotstabucks and while some of the employees consider applying for jobs with the company they are all looking to make the enforced change into an opportunity to spread their wings.

There are tales of rejection on both romantic and career paths woven into this gently witty piece, along with portraits of young people discovering who they are and coming to terms with each other’s different views of the world.

The six-strong cast are Josie Sedgewick Davies, Emily Woosey, Lucy Harris, Tom Harrington, Nick Crosbie and Jamie Brownson. All are locally based and four have previously been seen in Young Everyman Playhouse productions, including The Grid, which was co-written by Alex Joynes.

Set design is by Adele Hayter, who is a graduate of LIPA and won this year’s design prize from the Everyman & Playhouse. Half Baked is directed by Chris Tomlinson and Natasia Bullock and the remaining production team are all members of YEP.

Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and YEP are promoting the Young Theatre Makers project along with Birmingham Rep and New Wolsey Ipswich.  Half Baked, co-produced by YEP as part of this programme, will be playing in various northern venues in November prior to a national tour next spring. 

Cartoonopolis - Lewis Bray - Liverpool Playhouse Studio - 22/10/2014

Lewis Bray presented us with a short extract of Cartoonopolis earlier in the year and since then I have been looking forward to the appearance of the longer work…  I was not disappointed.

Lewis has a teenage brother Jack, who has autism and although like the rest of his family he is from the Wirral, Jack speaks with an American accent learned through his love of cartoons. He has built his own world inhabited with these characters, some familiar to us and some created through his own rich imagination.

In Cartoonopolis Jack is Mayor Bray, and he calls the tune. The central section of the play sees a battle between the forces of good and evil in his realm. Surrounding this we see the back story, experiencing Jack’s world through the experience of Lewis and the rest of the family.

What Lewis does is give his brother a voice and has us understand him the way his family do. In doing so he has created a work filled with astonishing frankness and tremendously affectionate humour. He manages to expose many of their difficulties and frustrations, often caused by the misunderstanding of others or lack of cooperation or support, but he never allows it to become protest or posturing.

We are left wanting to cross the border into Cartoonopolis with Jack, and to experience his world the way that Lewis seems to be able to do.

Lewis Bray is a tremendously talented improviser with a terrific ability to flip back and forth between numerous characters, both real and imaginary. Early on, as he first depicts his mother, he throws us an aside to the effect that she’ll kill him when she sees this, but I strongly suspect that she will find the characterisation as affectionately humorous as we do.

Cartoonopolis is written and performed by Lewis Bray, directed by Matt Rutter and Chris Tomlinson and was lit by Christina Eddowes. If, as Matt Rutter tells us, this was a scratch performance then audiences are really in for a treat when it returns in February.