Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Poppy Gilbert, Calvin Demba, Finlay Paul, Ruby Bentall, Abbigail Weinstock, Kiki May, Jenny Funnell, Paul Hinton, Abi McLoughlin, Tom Alexander.
The warning from history is not so much to be wary of certain political ideologies, but instead to shun those who wield the power and authority with charisma to pull in and manipulate the youth whose minds are easily swayed in the face of deprivation and neglect.
It is almost always the young who these evil creatures of all political persuasions prey upon, they offer a shining solution to the issues and problems that the youth of any country identify with; it is almost cult like, and with that impression of energy and easy answers that places the blame of the problem at the feet of the supposed foreigner, so the listener can feel the fear that wallows at the heart of the tremendous new play by Nicola Baldwin, We The Young Strong, the convincing argument of the effect of the Pied Piper like political charm of the shameless and demonstrably hateful British Union of Fascists and their leader, Oswald Mosley.
The play deals with the those caught up in the far-right scourge and the government of the U.K.’s attempt to deal with the increasing problem of the Blackshirts and the insidious hold they held on some of Britain’s youth.
The emergency Defence Regulation Act which gave the Home Secretary powers to hold indefinitely people who were considered a potential risk to the nation without detailed charge; and the parallels with the reactive laws set in in the face of 9/11 and other shocking events is undoubtedly eerie and one of debate.
What is not up for debate is the superb way in which Ms. Baldwin frames the narrative through the young and impressionable voices of those caught up in the need for national change, the willingness of each one to absolve the underlying evil if it meant that national pride and jobs for the population overrode truth and compassion. In that the main character of Flora Poole, a young woman from Lancashire who had cycled all the way from her home to London in search of work in London, is one in which we must feel sympathy for her plight, but not for the radicalisation of her views, how she is used and almost willingly so by the play’s finale is framed with absolute intent.
Poppy Gilbert’s focus of Flora Poole is a warning to the listener that time is unforgiving and always looking for an example of suffering given the wrong reasons to inflict damage on another; and whilst the folly of youth in some quarters is at question, it is to the older generation to ensure that our children and grandchildren do not fall to the evil of fascism and oppression when it smiles and pretends to empathise with the one in pain.
A detailed and richly encompassing play, We The Young Strong is a play not only of the past, not for our time, but for all time, and deserves the recognition it aims squarely for.
Ian D. Hall