chriswood14

A beautiful boy meets boy story set against the backdrop of a world which doesn’t love them

Our 1972 is about two young men who have just entered adulthood and moved to London for university. We’re introduced to our characters through monologues as they write in their respective diaries, a device consistent throughout. Andrew, played by Josh Maughan (who also wrote the play) is studious, introverted yet ambitious, and already aware of his homosexuality. Benjamin, played by Peter Hadfield, the yin to Andrew’s yang, the Tigger to Andrew’s Pooh, is initially introduced as your typical sports lad who’s chosen to go to uni and study politics despite not truly knowing who or what he wants to be in life.

The play is performed in the small and intimate Hope Theatre with just two chairs and a stack of records either side of the stage making up the setting. With the audience a breath away from the actors, director Joshua Dowden uses this brilliantly to the play’s advantage. The play is littered with moments involving the audience in subtle ways. The actors make eye contact during monologues, or use the audience as extras during scenes that involve a large crowd. These small touches brought us a little bit closer into the story in a small but effective way.

Andrew and Benjamin meet whilst attending their British Politics lectures at uni. Most of the early interactions with the characters are in conflict. They bicker about politics, music, or even just about how they are with each other. This was perhaps my only gripe with the play overall. While I appreciate that a relationship needs to grow, and that the connection between these souls goes deeper than the surface, I would have liked to see a bit more nuance in their early interactions, a mixture of tension and charm. It felt a little too antagonistic for two strangers. But this is my only gripe and from the point where the charm was established, I have nothing but adoration. The frost between the characters thaws, they fall in love, and our plot is driven by the desire to not have to live their life in private. They pursue liberation by taking part in the activism of the first gay rights groups of 1970s Britain.

As the play goes on we learn of a beautiful contrasting depth to the characters through the advancement of the plot.. Andrew, so sure of himself in what he wants from his life, and very aware that he is gay, is so scared of that fact, so aware of how challenging his life will be in 70s Britain as a gay man. Maughan’s portrayal is sublime. The monologues in particular in which Andrew muses on his life and his position are beautifully written and performed. As he falls in love with Benjamin, he fears his own feelings, dreads his own desires. Risk averse Andrew is all too aware of the social landscape.

Benjamin has been outgoing and popular his whole life, he’s not been raised to fear anything. Raised by an activist mother and with a talent for cricket that promised him great things, he arrives at university without a purpose, and finds himself captivated both by Andrew and his desire to create a world where they can live happily. Peter Hadfield does a wonderful job of portraying a character so full of love and ambition, wilfully blind to the risks of what he wants to pursue, to the point that Andrew perceives it as foolhardy, and a brief wedge between them is driven.

The play closes as the characters reconcile, and embark on a public protest for gay rights. Benjamin playfully hands out signs to the audience emboldened with slogans, and the characters march on to change the views of the country. As the actors leave the stage, the audience is left with a short video projection onto the stage that shows news clips of modern day hate and protest directed towards transgender people. The team behind the play here draw parallels to what the gay community went through in the 20th century, a struggle that most people today find shameful, and the attitudes towards a similarly marginalised group, the transgender community, who are facing similar struggles for the right to exist in peace. A poignant end to a wonderful play.

A short and sweet fly-on-the-wall view into the lives of migrants. Emotive, atmospheric, and important.

Transit is a 45 (ish) minute 3-person play from Halfpace Theatre Company, currently showing at The Space. There isn’t a core plot, instead we’re presented with a series of short scenes that each give us an insight into the every-day struggles of living in the UK as an immigrant. Our characters are not intrinsically connected – in fact I can only recall one scene where their paths cross in a meaningful way. Instead these scenes are often performed solo by one of the actors, though the other 2 sometimes provide atmospheric support through holding lights or moving other props around. The scenes usually focus on a character as we’re shown how their lives are littered with struggles that would be alien to UK natives.

For the scenes absent of dialogue, the story is told through props and physical movements. Suitcases and sheets of paper are two simple props that are used throughout. We see our characters struggling with the seemingly overbearing but routine struggle of packing their lives into a suitcase. Our opening scene takes this motif to a wonderful extreme: The stage is set as the audience enter the theatre with suitcases strewn across the stage and two of our actors stood stoically next to them, unmoving. Only when the show starts do we learn the final member of the trio has been crammed into one of the suitcases the whole time. We, the audience, then watch her slowly emerge from the suitcase, as though a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

A few of the scenes are performed individually, but involve the character on a video call to friends or a relative in another country – the video being pre-recorded and projected onto stage. These calls do well to highlight the sadness and challenge that separation from your loved ones can present. It can simply be the sadness of celebrating your birthday alone, or even the difficulty of communicating from significantly different time zones. Conversely, we’re shown how the challenges around the bureaucracy of visas for immigrants in the UK can lead to people being unable to attend key life events, when those events are happening across the world. They face the real possibility that if they leave the UK, they might not be allowed back in.

For the one scene where our characters do directly interact, we find their paths crossing at an audition for an acting job. Our characters, both of whom are of East Asian ethnicity, perform a series of novelty 1v1 duels to make light of the fact that they’re competing for work, a truly joyful scene to watch. Reality later comes crashing down for both our characters as both are denied the job, being told by a voiceover representing the casting director that the ‘quota’ has been filled. A choice of words that highlights the struggles that many East Asian actors have historically faced in Western performing arts industries.

All in all, this short, minimalist play really left an impression on me. And I think for something under an hour and with such a small script and low level of production to do so, it’s a real testament to the play and the performances of the actors. End to end, the production felt emotive, atmospheric, and important.

Transit is on at The Space Theatre until the 2nd December. Get your tickets here.

Author: chriswood14

REVIEW: Our 1972

REVIEW: Transit