Today I want to talk about Feminism. Only kidding, enough of the serious stuff for a while! It’s about time I got back to blogging about the things I do every week that make me smile. On that note…. I took my mama to the theater on Saturday as a fun spur-of-the-moment type evening. I just found out last week (a few weeks too late!) that because I’m a member of the Northern Stage Young Company I get discounted tickets! Yippidy do da! And lucky us, Saturday night was the final performance of Refugee Boy from the West Yorkshire Playhouse in our very own Stage 1.
But of course, like most theatres, you have to start out in the Foyer which is often tantalisingly close to the bar….
Suited and booted we did manage to arrived in time to succumb to the close proximity of friendly barmen to get a glass (i.e. plastic cup) of vino and take a few ‘architectural’ shots in the atrium before we were kindly reminded that the performance would be starting in 5 minutes and it would be a good idea if we would go and sit down. So we did, the good citizens that we are.
The set, as I know you can perfectly see anyway, was brilliant in a pretty simple way. It allowed for lots of intricate, energetic sequences and that audience worry of “oh my god they’re going to fall!”. You can tell a production is good when the actors just live in a space so easily that it becomes whatever they want you to see, from English care home to the war-terrorised border of Ethiopia and Eritrea or even the law courts of our country and back again. You can also tell a good production when the actors are so good that you forget all about the set and it all just melts into one. With all but one actor playing multiple roles it looked absolutely knackering for them, but by goodness did they do well – accents n’all! Switching between accents is a skill these guys got to perfection. Envy envy envy. I’m off to practice in my room….
Though it’s not directly related, seeing this performance brought back a very important memory to me from high school when a man from Rwanda told us his life story. He told us all about the mass genocide he had witnessed in Rwanda, the years he spent in exile in a Tanzanian forrest, when he had come home to find nearly his whole family massacred and then how he had finally managed to get out and was only passing through London when he suffered a major spinal injury and had to stay in England. His wife and baby managed to seek refuge with him quite quickly but his only son had to wait over 5 years before he could join them. It was hard to take in to say the least. You just don’t think about that sort of stuff at 14 when your sitting doing your homework or watching TV. So to see such a well-produced play touching on similar subjects, with so many avid watchers, made me really happy that the theater continues to create a platform for messages like these to be heard. A classroom is a very good place to hear it too.
Now, after a very emotional play, the first thing you do is of course go right back to where you started. For another glass of vino at the var! To discuss the play and the moralities of life and so-forth and such-with etc etc….
On the way I managed to give my mom a sneaky peak in Stage 3 where I rehearse every week – so at least she knows what I’m going on about now when I talk about it! I snuck her out and up to the bar where we chatted about the play, about the theater and of course about our outfits for that evening until McKenna’s closed – and also until my Mum, with confirmation that it was ok for her to “approach the actors”, had managed to give each member of the cast in the foyer a smacker on the cheek (I mean a kiss of course, she certainly didn’t hit them!) and a hearty well done. She made the most of it and found out for herself that they’re as ordinary as the rest of us! And how wonderful that is. I was super thrilled that she enjoyed it that much. Super, super thrilled. They male actors looked it too… Nothing like a night at the theater as they say! I don’t think that’s actually a common phrase – but it should be.
Let’s make it happen!
Tagged: Eritrea, Ethiopia, mama, newcastle, northern stage, refugee boy, saturday night, Theatre, vino, west yorkshire playhouse