(Note: may contain spoilers)
Melody and her younger sister Harmony used to live with
foster parents in the lake district, but Melody was too much of a handful and is
back in Dumpton Lodge in the city, over a hundred miles away. Her family is now an ad-hoc affair mainly comprising social
worker Jackie and Wet Jeff, a residential worker at the lodge. She has adopted
herself a brother, Rizla, but he has left the care system now and is trying to
make his own way. It isn’t as easy as he thought and he has to resort to ways
of making money that he didn’t have in mind.
When Blessing arrives in the lodge, recently sent from
Nigeria and yearning to return to her Auntie, the status quo is unbalanced by
the friction between her and Melody, made worse by the fact that Rizla fancies
his chances with Blessing.
Wet Jeff can’t cope, and plans to take Melody on a trip to Harmony’s
birthday party fall apart, leaving Melody more disillusioned than ever with the
system. The final straw is the revelation that Harmony is to be adopted by her
foster parents. Melody steals the keys to a van and the three set off on a seemingly
random journey of escape to the country. What the other two don’t know is that
Melody has a plan, and they find themselves complicit in abducting Harmony.
Joining them on the journey is Mojo. Mojo is a rucksack
shaped like a monster, given to Melody by Harmony. Mojo is Melody’s good luck
charm, companion and confidant. From the outset Mojo takes on a personality of
his own, animated by puppeteers who double as Jackie and Wet Jeff, and rather
surprisingly lifelike. During the play, Mojo takes on a number of different
guises and provides both a mirror to reflect Melody’s emotional states and a
means for her to discuss her inner thoughts with the audience.
Melody does lose her Mojo, but it is far more than Mojo that the three of them find along this journey of self discovery.
Melody does lose her Mojo, but it is far more than Mojo that the three of them find along this journey of self discovery.
The story is played out on an ever-moving set made up of
gaudily coloured street art and furniture, the fantastical designs and saturated
colours sometimes adding to the psychedelic feel of some of the scenes in which
the characters seek refuge in drugs and alcohol.
Also portrayed through puppetry is Harmony, and I would defy
anyone not to see past the puppeteers and believe that she is very much alive.
“Everybody gets shit dumped on them; not just us” says Rizla. The
three central performances of Remmie Milner, Darren Kuppan and Simone James as
Melody, Rizla and Blessing are tremendously strong and make a very balanced
trio. This is a long and potentially very wordy piece and they achieve a
perfect pacing throughout. There are some heavily emotion laden silences in the second act
especially which are beautifully timed and in which the very enthusiastic
audience held a mesmerised stillness. Keith Saha’s script allows us to see with
astonishing clarity the problems that they face and their strategies for
coping, but at no point does the play ever reduce itself to becoming preachy
or overtly political. What is more important is the opportunity to throw a
window open into the minds of young people in care and allow us to think about
the added pressures, disappointments and tragedies they face on top of the usual
pains of growing up in a harsh world.
Zoe Hunter and Samuel Dutton complete the acting cast with their dual roles as Jackie and Jeff and as physical artists who animate the non-human performances. Their parts are subtly written and blend into the background, but this enables their specialised form of stagecraft to work seamlessly.
Zoe Hunter and Samuel Dutton complete the acting cast with their dual roles as Jackie and Jeff and as physical artists who animate the non-human performances. Their parts are subtly written and blend into the background, but this enables their specialised form of stagecraft to work seamlessly.
The tone is set from the outset by a soundtrack largely
performed live on stage by champion beat boxer, Hobbit, accompanied by cellist
Hannah Marshall. The pace eases off substantially in the second act, allowing
more space for the development of the individual characters’ stories, and for
us to fully appreciate just how moving and lyrical the text is.
Here are roundly drawn characters who we cannot help caring
about, despite their frailties, failings and outbursts of rage. This is
uncompromising writing performed with tremendous energy and conviction and the story
it sets before us needs to be told.
The audience at the first performance I attended was balanced heavily
toward young people, but the writing and performances should have a very broad
appeal. It is a style of work bound to engage with younger audiences, but all theatre
lovers should enjoy this piece for its energy, honesty and optimism.
I now add that I have seen this production again two days later and was even more captivated by its magic. Some originally slightly clunky scene changing had been ironed out and was much more fluid, while the pacing was honed even more closely to keep the narrative flowing smoothly. This is a firecracker of a play that deserves to fill houses and ought to be one of the season's hot tickets.
I now add that I have seen this production again two days later and was even more captivated by its magic. Some originally slightly clunky scene changing had been ironed out and was much more fluid, while the pacing was honed even more closely to keep the narrative flowing smoothly. This is a firecracker of a play that deserves to fill houses and ought to be one of the season's hot tickets.
Melody Loses her Mojo is co-produced by 20 Stories High,
Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse and Curve Theatre Leicester.
It runs at Liverpool Playhouse until Friday 27th September,
after which it tours to Contact Manchester, Curve Leicester, Lawrence Batley
Huddersfield and The Key Peterborough.
