Whilst Home (yes, it still pains me to type that as I haven’t
yet come round to the new name for the former Library Theatre Company and
Cornerhouse) is still in the process of constructing their new home in
Manchester, they mark their formation this year with three site specific
productions across the city. The first of these is Angel Meadow, which has been
publicised by striking advertising across the city, including one that has been
welcoming people exiting Piccadilly station in less of a ‘welcome to the city’
and more of a ‘come and have a go if you think you are hard enough’ fashion for
the last month.
For this production Home have tempted Anu Productions over
from Dublin. The programme blurb says this about their approach to performance,
they ‘use immersive entertainment to create shared intimacies between audience,
place and performer’ and boy did they deliver on that with this gritty, brutal,
emotional but energising production, that contrasts the modern gentrification
of the area, with the darker underbelly of its recent history and the Irish
immigrants that lived there.
Set in Ancoats, not far from the Angel Meadow of the title,
each performance has an audience of just eight, and, apart from the very start
and the end, even this small number is divided further throughout the course of
the event, sometimes in small groups, sometimes one on one, with every participant
having a slightly different experience dependant on the route they are guided
and the places they visit.
Our nervous group gathered in Cutting Room Square, to be met
by a representative from the development company that has plans to renovate one
of the buildings into flashy bespoke loft style apartments. We are ushered into
a slick marketing suite and the pitch begins, but this is soon interrupted by
the aftermath of a sickening act of violence as young Hannah May (Caitriona
Ennis) bursts into the room pleading for our help. We are then plunged into her
world for the next hour as we have various intense encounters in a run down
pub, encompassing themes including gang violence, the pain of bereavement,
abuse, the meaning of family but also love and a yearning for compassion and
connection.
This was an amazing experience from start to finish. I
quickly found myself completely immersed in this compelling production. It
really brought out the protective side in me, from wiping the blood from the
face of a vulnerable and trembling young girl, to snatching a damaging
substance from the hands of a damaged woman, and facing off to a bullying thug,
I was in turns amused, horrified, scared, angered and upset. I have never
experienced quite such an emotional response to a theatrical event before and I
feel very privileged to have been a part of this one.
The stage management of this experience is outstanding. The
co-ordination that must beinvolved in all the splitting and reforming of
participants must be complicated, not in the least because the event lasts an
hour, but the following group starts half an hour after you so there must be
two groups on the go at the same time but paths never cross. The sets are also
fantastic and full of detail, right down to the remains of the crisps mixed
with fag buts and dregs of drinks in the run down bar that the final part of
the performance takes place in.
The cast are all amazing and give intense, believable and
heart wrenching performances. It can’t be easy not knowing how an audience
member will react, especially in such intimate circumstances, but they judge it
perfectly. Particularly memorable were Laura Murray as the bereaved and broken widow
Angel, and the young boxer (Lloyd Cooney I think) defending the honour of his
people but with a vulnerability that was very touching. But the star player
award has to go to Ennis as Hannah May, she was simply amazing. Such an
energetic, complex and convincing portrayal and one which must have been
completely exhausting to deliver at that level multiple times per day.
If Home wanted to make a statement as they entered the
Manchester theatrical scene they certainly managed it with this astounding
production. It stays with you long after you leave the performance, the
characters and the situations were so powerful and so cleverly portrayed you
can’t get them out of your head as you try to process what you have just been
part of. My only complaints were that I wasn’t ready to leave and I wanted to
go straight back in and experience its uniqueness again. Massive
congratulations to everyone involved in this, I am so grateful I got to be part
of it.
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