Gaffer! – Unity Theatre – 30/06/2014

Simon Hedger delivers a tour de force in this duathlon of a one hander, in a well deserved and timely revival at Unity under the impeccable direction of Sam Freeman.

First presented at the Rose and Crown Hampton Wick in 1999, Gaffer! was Chris Chibnall’s third play for GRiP Theatre, but gained recognition in what seems to have been its only revival so far in 2004 at Southwark Playhouse with Deka Walmesley.

A decade later we might have hoped the subject matter would feel more dated, but recent events sadly continue to prove that its message is as relevant today as the day it was written. In 1999 the football world was coming to terms with the suicide of Justin Fashanu. Sadly 15 years later homophobia “the last taboo of football” remains as embedded as ever.

Possibly a factor in the play’s rarity is in finding an actor both able and willing to undertake the task. There are a lot of words and numerous characterisations. Simon Hedger reassures us that the rhythm of the writing gave him plenty of help but nonetheless it’s an impressive feat that he carries off with tremendous style. No stranger to multiple roles, Hedger switches seamlessly between characters, not only using a range of voices but seemingly able to shape-shift so that we see them all too.

The Gaffer, George, is manager of the enthusiastic but struggling Northbridge Town football club. Times are hard and the administrators are at the door, and a new chairman brings in a consultant who has different ideas about what makes for success on the pitch. One tactic is to hire a promising new striker from the youth team, only seventeen but with the will to make his mark and a Rottweiler of a father for an agent.

When Northbridge are drawn to play Liverpool they’re prepared for valiant defeat, so a draw is cause for elation and a night on the ale, and it is on the way home that the young hopeful declares his unlikely and unbidden love for George and plants a big kiss on him. Cue for an interval - sorry - half time.

George is prepared to shrug it off and put it down to youth and alcohol, but when he finds the moment captured on film and plastered all over the morning papers this becomes harder than he thought. The ensuing media feeding frenzy rakes up memories from the past and rocks the foundations of George’s life.

Simon Hedger’s Gaffer would be a larger than life performance but for the fact that it is so incredibly true to reality. It is an amalgam of so many familiar managers past and present and the passion is infectious even for a self-confessed football ignoramus like myself. But he doesn’t stop at George. Among his other creations are several team members, various management, and a died-in-the-wool traditionalist of a groundsman who believes the way to beat the opposition is by having a pitch so uneven that the divots confuse them into submission. The marketing consultant who suggests a list of phrases that can’t be used in an interview is someone you’d happily throttle.

The play takes a serious gear shift at half-time, from the nostalgically comic to something much more dark and brooding. Act one is full of the energy of the game and laced with humour, while act two becomes a study of the damage that the press can inflict on individuals when they turn private lives into public property. Some of the most telling moments in both halves come when George reflects back to his past with genuine affection for those who nurtured his early career. A recalled gesture handed on from past to future makes a moving and poignant turning point.

Each character’s orientation is never explicitly defined, and rightly so. Ultimately it is the opinions of others and the destructive power of the media that are under the microscope here.

Gaffer! plays at Unity Theatre Liverpool until Saturday 5th July.

The Master and Margarita – Unity Theatre Liverpool – 4th October 2013

Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel nearly never saw the light of day. He famously burned the original manuscript and then his second manuscript remained unpublished until 26 years after his death, even then in a heavily cut and censored version.

Since then, it has refused to remain hidden, having not only become extremely highly regarded as a novel but having also been adapted many hundreds of times for the stage and screen.

More than a hundred characters and numerous interlocking lines of plot present seemingly endless challenges and opportunities to theatre companies to find ways of staging it. Contemplating doing so in the intimate 150 seat Unity Theatre, though, where the lighting grid is barely 15 feet above the stage could be thought of as either very brave or slightly mad.

All the more reason to rate the result as a tremendous triumph for the Liverpool based Lodestar Theatre Company.

This production is an experience akin to stepping through the canvas of a Magritte painting and finding the cast of Monty Python living there.

A cast of eight actors are assisted in playing their multiple roles with some ingenious and creative use of video projections of themselves (with some parts pre-recorded on a blue-screen and overlaid on the set) and by some imaginative and occasionally hilarious costume changes.

Joseph England, Simon Hedger, Jack Quarton and Hannah Gover (as the feline Behemoth in full-face prosthetic makeup) gave particularly fine performances. I would like to single out others too, but the programme design uses such a stylised typeface that in some cases makes deciphering the cast names a challenge at best, but suffice to say that they all deserve plaudits.

The staging is a masterclass in making the best use of space. How do you create multiple settings on an enclosed stage with no fly-loft without clunky, time consuming shifting of lots of scenery? Digital Artist Adam York Gregory and animator Colin Eccleston have worked with Video Mapping artist Gray Hughes to create a virtual set, which transforms itself elegantly from scene to scene.

How many of the cast or crew would be old enough to remember him I don’t know, but I was oddly reminded of the remarkable Robert Harbin who I recall from the TV in my childhood. Harbin was famous for two things – as a creator and performer of stage illusions (the David Copperfield of his day) and for popularising the art of Origami to the masses.

On the stage was a structure looking as though it may have been an origami exercise; a collection of irregular geometric shapes incorporating a series of entrances and exits and finished entirely in white. It was onto these surfaces that the video-mapped set designs and animations were projected, creating a world that melted and coalesced as we globetrotted through the story. In front of this backdrop the cast performed a similar series of visual tricks and sleights of hand that added to the illusory nature of the tale.

The finishing layer of gloss on this production is a sweeping musical score created by Composer David Ben Shannon and Musical Director Jack Quarton, the latter appearing in character at one point playing an accordion. An early tweet from the company during rehearsals said that the theatre sounded as though they had hired the Phil from round the corner, and I can see what they mean. Adding to this the well-chosen pieces of Shostakovich that are used for the pre and post-show music and I think Vasily Petrenko would feel quite at home in the Unity this week.

The play was adapted and directed here by Max Rubin, who clearly loves the book and has gone all out to capitalise on the surreal and comedic aspects of it, while never losing sight of its satirical bite.

The second of two ambitious adaptations of classic Russian novels to hit our Liverpool stages this month, The Master and Margarita plays at Unity One until Saturday 12th October. Performances are selling out fast, so grab a ticket while you can.

Contact www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk or call 0844 873 2888 or 0151 709 4988 for details and ticket sales.