Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Daniel Cassidy.

It is only in recent times that we have urged survivors to talk about the events they have witnessed, whether in terms of clarification so that disasters, tragedies and acts of systematic neglect in terms of  safety and the general public can be assessed and never, hopefully, happen again, or so that those same people who saw the catastrophe take place can ease their burden, have the weight and sense of guilt of history taken from their blameless shoulders, start the long journey back to hopeful recovery; never realising that the nightmares perhaps stay with them at each anniversary, each memory that went before analysed and examined, The Bottleneck of emotions that cannot be contained.

At any age witnessing an event which becomes headline news, in which a group of people are blamed by a Government and a police force which is meant to provide protection in such circumstances, can be fundamental to how they respond to life in the future. To those that dare suggest hiding away the feelings that are bubbling away in a cocktail of remorse, the complexity of almost lottery like life and death, they themselves should look harder at why the effects P.T.S.D. are not to be taken lightly. The stresses and strains such events put-on a person’s psyche, it is only human to respond in any way that the brain deems fit to cope.

The events of Hillsborough, Sheffield in April 1989 are well documented, but stories are sacred, there is always a way in which an individual’s memory will be honoured. For Luke Barnes, Bottleneck is not only a perfect example of exploring fear and young adolescence but is a remarkable and exemplary pursuit of holding the audience to account for being human themselves, the understanding that grief accompanies laughter, that death never travels alone and is often to be seen with its sibling, the continuation of life.

For Daniel Cassidy, playing the young 15 year-old Greg, this enormous weight of history and expectation was met with a performance that was first-rate, a monologue of pathos, beauty and the subject of indiscernible horror that nobody should ever contemplate upon having seen, having lived through. A remarkable sense of achievement given the right to announce itself and be reckoned with by Director Chantell Walker.

Rarely does theatre grab you with the mix of history and tragedy, and the added sense of pure youthful exuberance that is now forever hidden in sadness and regret. Outstanding!

Ian D. Hall