Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: James Bibby, Esta Bickerstaff, Catherine Brown, Georgina Cummings, Philipa Gaskell, Lucy Harris, Heidi Henders, David Jackson, Gus Kearns, Chloe Nall-Smith, Emily Rainbow, Keeley Ray, Anthony Roberts, Grace Sandison, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Whitney Suku, Kieran Urquhart, Matthew Woods, Nick Crosby, Tiegan Byrne, Caitlin Carey, Cortney Carey, Poppy Hughes, Kate Keeton, Niamh McCarthy, James O’ Neill, Mark Powell, Darren Pritchard, Jamie Pye, Paislie Ried, Joe Roberts, Nathan Russell, Harry Sargent, Kaila Sharples, Daryl Wafer, Nadia Anim Mohammad Noor, Rachel Barry, Lewis Bray, Jennifer Briggs, Daniel Fitzgerald, Tom Harrington, Tammy Holland, Sean Hyland, Nina Levy, Scott Lewis, Hannah McGowan, Kathryn McGurk, Spencer Montague, Joe Ringwood, Jenny Stock, Jonathan Taylor, Theo Thompson, Tommy Williams, Curtis Wilson.
The future is upon us it seems, there is a time where the World Wide Web will be superseded and everyone will be connected to each other and harmony is available…or could it be just the step that is finally too far and humanity will soon become the machines that dystopia craves us to be, plugged in, switched on and a slave to the button, a slave tied completely to The Grid?
The Young Everyman Theatre has been away from their home whilst the new building was being erected over the last couple of years but in their first set of performances within their new surroundings, the energy of so many members of the group manifested itself into something rather intriguing and utterly skilfully.
It is the young that perhaps comprehend the latest advances in the technology that surrounds us but what happens when the technology goes askew, goes wrong or becomes the type of disorderly disruption that we no longer see reality as authentic? Does society actually experience the loss or grab the chance to revert back to its natural state? Does humanity actively seek the comforting hum of electric seeping around them and the keyboard in which to hide a thousand faces, none of which are the real person? The software forever disconnected.
To witness this performance of Alex Joynes and Laura Kate Barrow’s excellent work was to understand again just how important the future of theatre is to all. The chance to see the younger actors in Liverpool, the technicians in all their guises and the two young writers give everything to the potential that is bubbling under the surface in a city that knows how to nurture the younger members of society. Regardless of which young actor was on stage and at several points the entire company was marvellously all in attendance, each carried the message of the script perfectly and showed their dedication to the Directors, Chris Tomlinson and Matt Rutter.
It is a true pleasure to see such quality in abundance and can make you hopeful that as a theatre goer you will be seeing many of the members of Y.E.P. tread the boards in years to come. It also makes you shiver with excitement at the prospect of writers such as Laura Kate Barrow being given the chance to shine nationally; it is exactly what they deserve.
The Grid is the first play that places the framework again into the Everyman Theatre by Y.E.P., the majestic mix of established theatre and the young of a city being able to shine infront of an audience, this is a network to be truly proud of.
Ian D. Hall