Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Lisa Howard, Steve Huison, Suzette Ahmet, Matt Connor, Michael Hugo.
We are living in a time of farce, a period of political instability in which nobody understands the game anymore, and which is unravelling to the point of embarrassing absurdity; if it wasn’t so frightening, so tragic, and with the constant concern of extremist views being able to sit at the same table as common decency and compassion, then it would be funny.
We make a great show of time, we think of ourselves as progressive, of having learned the lessons of the past, yet all we do is repeat the same cycle of perceived naivety, we condemn people to the streets and then fine them for being there, we allow modern homes to be built but then refuse to put in measures that will save lives should the worst happen, fracking, poverty, million pound bonuses to those whose life is a game of chance, destroy hope, take food from the mouths of children and should they cross a border to escape the war we helped create, then we place them in prison camps; repeated history, continue ad nauseam!
The trouble is we don’t have the measure of belief to know that we can do more than just stick our fingers up to so called authority, that the line of law is one that is a false premise, after all, Government will chase the person on the street for a penny sticking out of their back pocket; yet will do nothing to ensure that big business is taxed properly. It should be a case of They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!
Ten years has passed since the excellent Northern Broadsides brought the sublime The Accidental Death of an Anarchist to the Liverpool Playhouse, now, one of Liverpool’s favourite touring companies has returned, armed with another Dario Fo perfectly timed observation of life in a period of hardship, of the lies we tell ourselves when all around us is crumbling, and with Deborah McAndrew’s insightful comedy wit and adaptation, it is a comedy, a play which achieves the two aims of such performances. It truly gives the audience a much needed release of laughter, but it also has the ability to pull the rug from underneath the same crowd’s feet and leave them with knowledge that the world is one big joke.
Marking a welcome return to the Liverpool Playhouse from his lead performance in The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Michael Hugo’s compendium of characters marched ever onwards, interacting with the two desperate couples caught up in the rush of an opportunity of social rebellion and having to resort to stealing food and the consequences of their actions with awe-inspiring dexterity of movement.
A production which frames a modern Britain with absolute realism and which typifies the quote by British novelist, Ronald Firbank, “The world is so dreadfully managed, one hardly knows to whom to complain.” A cracking theatre production!
Ian D. Hall