Sadly the reviewer who had said they would review this piece was no longer available to do so yesterday, and so I picked up the gauntlet and watched it myself. I feel that if said reviewer had been able to cover it the review would have been very different from mine, which is a shame, but, nevertheless I shall be as objective as I possibly can be. Quite frankly the piece was not aimed at my demographic at all: the white, male, middle-aged, middle-class professional - and I had a very difficult time in trying to relate to the urgent vernacular and contemporaneous culture of Grime, Beat-Boxing, Hip-Hop, Rap etc. They were also speaking about a world which fortunately for me is so far removed from my reality that I only ever see such things on gritty police TV dramas.
The four performers were on HOME's main stage and instead of 'doing their thing' to a live audience, they were being streamed live to our homes via the magic of computer technology. Conrad Murray, Paul Cree, Gambit Ace, and Lakeisha Lynch Steven had spaced themselves out on the stage in a square formation maintaining, as much as possible, the required social distance away from each other throughout. Aesthetically, this was monotonous and uninteresting; especially when all four were costumed identically [black hoodies, black baseball caps, black jogging pants, red arm band], and the stage was bare and black. The only things to break the monotony being the lighting (which thankfully came in a few different hues throughout) and haze. This 70 minute show (performed without a break) therefore became very samey and static, which I am sure was partly due to government restrictions, but not entirely.
The show started seemingly in a near Dystopian future - a world very similar to our own, but with some of our policies taken to their logical conclusion. The costuming helped to bring this idea to the fore. The piece was a political rant, a plea, perhaps even a satire, (there were moments of lightheartedness), which highlighted the plight of many young people - especially in London and surrounds - who are trying to make a start in life and yet come from a poor and / or broken family living in Council housing and find it almost impossible to afford a home of their own. Their own personal stories were told (whether real or imagined I don't know), and we are made to understand their struggles, their prejudices, and their frustrations with the inequalities that are laid out by our government and the futility of a broken 'system'.
Performed in a series of vignettes, some are half-acted, some are sung, some are rapped; and although the show is very still, there are moments of unified choreography which help to break the inactivity. I also understood that this was a very real and heartfelt performance, coming from a real place that all four performers understood and felt, needing to educate and inform those of us, like me, who were only peripherally aware of this situation.
The one thing I would finish with bowever is the 12+ classification given to the piece. There is a fair amount of swearing in the production [a recognised part of their art form I am realiably informed], and some adult themes, so perhaps I would have raised that a little higher personally.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 18/11/20
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