Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The term might be one in which the ears and the brain dismisses as yet another piece of slang bandied about by the young seeking to confuse or irritate those of the generations that have gone before them, a word seemingly pulled out of thin air, a modern catch-phrase which means nothing to those over 30, after all, if you take heed of the advice of those over a certain age, it is only the young that need to wake up, isn’t it?

Woke, a word that you might believe is modern, a catch all sentiment delivered by Feminist politics, a word that is just said in your face, especially if you are a man. Woke, when in reality it is exactly what it means, a strong and vibrant four-letter word asking you to wake up to the world and all its inequality, the suggestion that the world is a fairer place is a nonsense, that women have now equal rights is a fallacy, it is still a world run and owned by certain men and it is a world that toxic masculinity needs to be curtailed, restrained and finally eradicated, before it degrades, maims, and even kills a large selection of society, or even a single person caught up in its wake.

Nothing suddenly comes from nowhere, and as the artist known as Testament points out in this stirring performance piece, Woke comes out of the classic Jazz era and it is a message which has gathered industrial like strength as it has been adopted in the modern era by those who are asking men to open their eyes to the way in which people have been manipulated, lied to and encouraged to believe that certain forms of behaviour are acceptable, that life is in effect not a Carry On film, that we have all transgressed, we have all committed one form of misogyny or other, some seemingly playful, some just horrendous, we have in effect been asleep and it is time to wake up.

Through the medium of hip-hop, through free style association and wonderfully imagined social commentary, Testament finds a space in which to bring his own way of behaviour, that of the genre in which he has worked in and loved and of every man alive who has ever even in the company of his own gender made a sexist comment; it is not enough to say women do just the same, it is about elevating our own standards, to look to perhaps a new defining meaning – equalism.

In one of the most honest, far reaching representations seen on stage, Testament sets down a challenge, to look at the behaviour of yourself, to set an example, to be Woke.

Ian D. Hall