20 Tiny Plays About Sheffield

Event: 20 Tiny Plays About Sheffield

Description: Theatre

Location: The Studio Theatre

Address: 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire, S1 1DA

Actually (depending on who you listen to) either 21 or 22 tiny plays, and not all plays at that, but some pieces of prose and poetry as well. 20 Tiny Plays is designed to showcase Sheffield, and for the most part, it was successful, with enough detail to keep the locals happy but accessible enough for non-natives.

I myself was born in Sheffield, moved away at a young age, and have been since 2002, when I started University here, and my wife is a southerner, who moved here for university  in 2003, and sees herself as a local but not a native, so between us so we have a little of both perspectives.

The first and final plays nicely bookended the evening, with the opening being quite powerful, a chant of Sheffield's five rivers; "Riv-er Don, Loxley, Port-er Brook, Sheaf! Riv-e-lin, Por-ter Brook, Loxley! Don! Sheaf!"  The rhythmic chanting giving a sense of some of the power and drama to come, and the finale, in which a non-Sheffielder visited to see the iconic cooling towers of Blackburn Meadows power station being demolished, which brought a light tear to my eye (yes, I have an odd affection for the the long-gone twin 250ft hunks of concrete).

In between times, there were a few sections here that seemed mere filler.  I don't think, for example, that we needed five minutes of the cast shouting previous headlines from the Sheffield Star, and we certainly didn't need a reprise of this after the interval. There were other sections which were seemingly just to fill time, including some moments of dance. Amateur actors these people may be, but dancers they certainly were not.

There were some real stand-outs in the middle, however. Chief in my mind as far as comedy in concerned was "Blow Blow", the final play before the interval, about Dempsey's, Sheffield's (in)famous gay bar/club night. The thumping music and witty dialogue made this section quite memorable, although I can't say I ever saw the men in flashing bunny ears!

A mini musical about Snooker, whose World Championships are held at the Crucible Theatre in the same building as the Studio Theatre (indeed, the Studio is used as the Players' practice room) ran with underlying themes of feminism. It opened with the protagonist finishing a ticket for the snooker, before falling in love with the sport, and then staying out all hours and incurring the worry of her parents, before finally admitting her obsession to her mum, finding that she too, had had a love for the sport in the past, but gave up playing as her husband didn't appreciate being beaten by a woman!

This method of staging a social element which could have been set anywhere inside a situation based within Sheffield continued, as groups of rival football supporters, United and Wednesday, clashed chanting their respective songs, before rounding on a banker burning money and again as groups of speeding motorists met for a "re-education" session, and discussed immigration, and Sheffield's "City of Sanctuary" status.

The most poignant, "Dear Danny" was in the form of letters and emails send to Danny, author of www.whokilledmymum.com. This website was set up to find the killer of Patricia Grainger, killed in 1997, when he was still very young, and gained widespread attention in Sheffield. The website now has over 1.6 million hits, but now sadly lies dormant, the author presumably having given up any hope of the perpetrator of this horrific crime ever being brought to justice. The mini-play dealt with the matter sensitively, and was one of the more humbling moments of the evening.

All in all, an enjoyable evening out, with just a few minor niggles. I think that had they made 15 Tiny Plays about Sheffield, and cut 20 minutes off, the whole experience would have benefited. The main criticisms I have seen levelled at the play (especially in the Observer) is that there is little flow to the production, but this was always supposed to be a compendium, and need to be treated as one would a compilation album, rather than a concept album. The individual tracks showcased the Sheffield of old as well as the up-and-coming, From football and steel to art and Clegg, all get a mention here. references to current events, closed shops in the centre, austerity and bankers' bonuses bring the play right up to the minute. Well worth a watch.

Writers: Chris Bush, Helen Eastman, Tim Etchells, Sally Goldsmith, Pete Goodland, Russell Hepplewhite, Richard Hurford, Marcia Layne, Tom Lodge, Andrew McMillan, D C Moore, Kaite O'Reilly, Laurence Peacock, Michael Stewart, Stephanie Street, Andrew Thompson, Chris Thorpe, Louise Wallwein


Performers: Tanya Addy, Billy Ashcroft, Jonny Aubrey-Bentley, Jalleh Bahraini, Jessica Barber, Thomas Barker, Sue Beardon, Ellen Bowes, Elliot Brown, David Burchhardt, Sue Burgess, Michaela Caine, Jean Cherry, Samuel Child-Cavill, Joseph Clarkson, Lily Coates, Ned Cooper, Dominic Corfield, Archana Dait, Jennifer Derbyshire, Chidora Ekebuisi, Annie Etchell, Shelby Foster, Becky Frankham, Carmen Franklin, Imogen Gledhill, Paris Guest, Billy Hinchliff, Emily Hurst, Adele Hodson, Keith Khabo, Sean Longmore, Mariah Louca, Clare McManus, Ryan Meehan, Alison Mitchell, James Morley, Leo Peace, Stephen Peace, Satu Pihlstrom, Matthew Plant, Andrew Raftery, David Ridley, Janice Sampson, Estella Smith, Alex Smith, Samuel Smithson, Kate Spivey, Leonora Stavrianakos, Rosa Strong, Anya Sweetland, Jonathan Syer, Robert Turner, Christian Vernon, Bryn Walker, George Webster, Aileen Westoby, Scott Westoby, Jason Wild, Kyle Williams

Musical direction (and performance): Moony Wainwright

DNA @ Sheffield Studio Theatre

Event: DNA
Description: Theatre
Location: The Studio Theatre
Address: 55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, Yorkshire, S1 1DA

DNA.  An odd play, and apparently now a GCSE text, which probably explained the large number of teenagers in the audience.  The play itself, I found quite interesting,  yet somehow quite banal, repetitive even.  Maybe this is a deliberate ploy of the writer's to illustrate contemporary teenage existence - it's not all Skins fuck party fuck, nor is it Inbetweeners cringe shy cringe.  Maybe we're all just drifting along, nothing happens, banality one day, profound explanations the next, but we're all too shut off to care?

The story itself was simple enough.  A group of teenagers goaded a weaker boy into perform a dangerous stunt, and he slipped and died.  How, the group are faced with a difficult choice; do they turn themselves in, admit what they've done and face the consequences, or do they wait it out, hope no one will suspect them, even try to push the investigation - and the blame - onto someone else, an innocent man?

The somewhat weak repetitive dialogue was more than made up for by the great performances from the cast.  The lead, I suppose you would say, was Phil (James Alexandrou) although he had roughly 20% of the lines of Leah (Leah Brotherhood) whose monologues provided the profound, the ridiculous and everything in between.  Daniel Francis-Swaby had probably the most difficult role, and was sublime in depicting Brian's slip into semi-sanity.

All in all, quite an enjoyable evening, but it will seem really short at barely 80 minutes, and did on occasions seem quite sluggish.  I think that this was a mediocre evening made good by a strong cast and minimal staging, rather than a great play in itself.  Still, worth checking out.