Contact Theatre Archives - UPSTAGED MANCHESTER

Review: Everything All Of The Time at Contact

October 8, 2021October 8, 2021kristobel

Reviewer: Daniel Shipman

Upstaged Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

For a theatre so dedicated to amplifying the voices of young people, it feels appropriate that Contact have decided to re-open after their £6 million refurbishment with a show from their young company. After several years away from the building, it would have been easy to return with a gentle ‘welcome home’ piece and ease back into things – but after the past 18 months, CYC are feeling anything but gentle.

A supremely talented group of young people.

Much of the sixty-minute running time is given over to dance, with choreography by Yandass Ndlovu, and there is no doubt that this is a supremely talented group of young people. Taking inspiration from sources like the rigid ‘hands, face, space’ message which has become ubiquitous over the past 18 months and the claustrophobia of being stuck inside for months at a time, the company conjure a retrospective of sorts to the political, health and climate crises that have been vying for our attention.

As you can imagine, the mood is almost uniformly sober, but is punctuated by occasional glimmers of light in the form of short monologues reflecting on the lighter moments of the year. One breathless summary blending timelines of personal and political is particularly entertaining, whilst also making you realise what a saturated period of history we’re living through.

The standard of young performers and theatre-makers in Manchester remains sky-high.

Whilst the individual sections are powerful, the show is, unfortunately, less than the sum of its parts, primarily due to a lack of cohesive direction which could have been provided with a little more central guidance from director Matt Fenton. With shows like this, there is a fine line to tread between allowing the company to explore ideas and express themselves and aiming at an organised final product.

Despite this, it is heartening to see that the standard of young performers and theatre-makers in Manchester remains sky-high despite the limitations that have been placed on the industry – long may it continue.

-Daniel Shipman

Everything All Of The Time runs at Contact until Saturday 9 October.

REVIEW – The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven (Queer Contact Festival, Contact Theatre)

February 16, 2016kristobel

Date: 14 February

Upstaged Rating:

The sweet powdery scent of incense wafts past as the doors swing open at St. Chrysostom’s Church in Manchester. Framed by beautiful arches and stained glass windows, smiling faces welcome the audience in for an alternative service – The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven by playwright and performer Jo Clifford. This thoughtful and engaging solo show re-imagines the Gospels with a transgender Jesus.

Running for approximately one hour, the performance begins with a sermon before the congregation is invited to each take a candle and move on to the brightly coloured rugs and cushions in the middle of the performance space.

When The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven was first performed at Glasgay Festival in 2009, it was met with anger by some members of the Christian community and it was condemned by the Archbishop of Glasgow. Angry protesters picketed the Tron Theatre, without reading the script or seeing the show, with one remarking: “You don’t have to go near a sewer to know that it stinks.” I was pleased to see that Jo Clifford makes a powerful reference to this metaphor in the performance and by doing so refuses to be silenced and continues to resist any shame and fear surrounding trans people.

Jo Clifford has a wonderfully expressive tone of voice, moving from a calming whisper to a rich tone loaded with tension. Candles are lit in a kind of ritual throughout the performance – by this flickering candlelight, director Susan Worsfold conveys a sense of worship with intimacy.

The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven is a passionate show and not without humour; throughout Clifford demonstrates the Christian value of acceptance and the show is delivered with a warm sense of friendship and tolerance.

By the end of the performance, many people in the audience were whispering “Amen” in reply to Jo Clifford’s prayer. The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven is a moving and touching show, perfectly illuminating everyone’s right to live a life free of discrimination, which I’m sure left most of the audience reflective and hopeful for change.

-Kristy Stott

Interested in finding out more? To visit Jo Clifford’s blog click here.

My Favourite Productions of 2015

December 23, 2015kristobel

My Favourite Productions of 2015

It has been an exciting year for Upstaged Manchester and I feel blessed and nostalgic as I remember the productions that have lifted my heart, helped me to question and generally captivated me this year. Here is a list of my theatrical highlights for 2015.

Yen at The Royal Exchange

I couldn’t shake this 2013 Bruntwood Prize Winner by Anna Jordan for quite a while – it left my mind doing somersaults. Jordan’s phenomenal writing and her vivid characters combined with Ned Bennett’s clever direction and Georgia Lowe’s sparse set design gave an unforgettable fusion of total brilliance.

Nirbhaya at The Contact Theatre

This brave, real and haunting piece of work, exploring the effect of the brutal attack that Jyoti Singh endured on board a bus in Delhi on December 16th 2012, stopped me in my tracks and left me speechless. A perfect example of the role that theatre has in spreading an important message and how art can bring about change.

Shooting With Light at The Lowry

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This is by far the best production I have ever seen in the Lowry Studio – slick choreography and an atmospheric soundscape. Idol Motion will certainly be a theatre company that I will be looking out for in 2016.

The Rolling Stone at The Royal Exchange

The Rolling Stone had me captivated – on the edge of my seat throughout. With outstanding performances from all, Chris Urch’s Bruntwood Prize Winner about the persecution of gay men in Uganda stays with you for a long time. I am so pleased that it is being performed at Orange Tree Theatre in January and February of 2016.

Boeing Boeing at Oldham Coliseum

I had never seen a farce done well – until I saw this version of Boeing Boeing directed by Robin Herford. An energetic production with an outstanding cast – their timing and delivery was impeccable. It really lifted my heart to see the performance propelled along by gasps, laughter and impromptu applause from the audience.

Beautiful Thing at The Lowry

The combination of Jonathan Harvey’s brilliant writing and Nikolai Foster’s intelligent direction managed to bring out every nuance in the script – I found myself noticing elements that I hadn’t fully appreciated in previous interpretations. This production felt like a celebration and a salute to how far rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people have come over the last 20 years, and a recognition that we still have a fair way to go.

Kafka’s Monkey at HOME

What an accomplished performer Kathryn Hunter is – such a rich tone and incredible physicality. Masterfully directed by Walter Meierjohann, I feel blessed to have witnessed a performance like this – this show certainly put Manchester’s new arts space HOME on the map.

Golem at HOME

A true theatrical spectacle and a perfect amalgam of animation, live performance, music and claymation. Golem was like nothing that I had ever seen before – sharp interaction between the performers, Paul Barritt’s eye-popping animation and Lillian Henley’s brilliant silent movie-esque score.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at The Lowry

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a tremendous piece of theatre – a perfect collaboration with outstanding performances throughout. Gripping and heartfelt – the perfect example of the power that theatre has to change the way that we view the world.

Wicked at The Lowry

Emily Tierney as Glinda & Ashleigh Gray as Elphaba. ©Matt Crockett

Well, I’m a big fan of Wicked and despite having seen the production before it just gets better and better for me every time. With magnificent music and lyrics, Wicked is a theatrical feast for your eyes, ears and hearts.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you – thank you for all of your support this year.

Wishing you all the best in 2016.

-Kristy Stott

REVIEW – RITES (Contact Theatre, Manchester)

May 14, 2015kristobel1 Comment

Date: 12 may 2015

Upstaged rating:

The Contact Theatre in Manchester is renowned for its high quality and diverse artistic programme. With experimental and bold theatre at it’s core, Contact Theatre has joined forces with the National Theatre of Scotland, acclaimed champions of storytelling and creative risk taking to produce this powerful new play, RITES.

RITES is a verbatim piece of theatre, borne out of interviews conducted with real people who have been directly affected or have some experience of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The people who were interviewed to make this production are from all over the UK and are FGM survivors, medical staff, health and social workers, activists and campaigners.

When the play begins, Fara (Paida Mutonono) asks us to “start by listening” and it is her direct story of FGM which forms the backbone of the production. The other characters that are presented to us also provide their viewpoints and share their stories which furthermore enriches the play giving it integrity, balance and depth. The four other members of the cast (Janet Kumah, James Mackenzie, Beth Marshall, Eleni Pavli) play a range of vibrant characters which include a group of Somali women swigging tea discussing western media and guests on a talk show with differing viewpoints. Director Cora Bissett and Co-creator Yusra Warsama’s staging does not demonise or judge victims of FGM but asks us to step back and understand a subject which is not as straightforward as we are led to believe.

RITES is an accomplished example of verbatim theatre – performances are all strong with each character’s mannerisms, stumble for words and idiosyncrasies adding to their credibility. And despite the heavy subject matter, the play does have a scattering of humour too particularly from female Muslim Chaplain Abhaya (Elena Pavli) and midwife Vanessa (Beth Marshall).

Jessica Worrall’s set design is perfectly simple allowing each of the characters and their narratives to shine through. Projections are used on stark white hospital screens, some are powerful signifiers such as razor blades whereas as others simply suggest Fara’s search for reason and truth with images of her google searches and tense skype calls to her mother.

After the 90 minutes of theatre, I walked out into Manchester with a different mindset on the subject of FGM and definitely a deeper understanding. I also felt hopeful for the future – FGM cannot be condoned but in order for us to change it, we have to step back, listen and gather facts so that we can challenge it and eventually put an end to this abusive practice.

-Kristy Stott

Rites is at Contact Theatre until 14 May 2015 (with a women only performance on 13 May at 12:30pm) before continuing its tour at Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol from 19 May -23 May 2015 and then Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from 26 May- 30 May 2015.

-Kristy Stott

REVIEW – Jackie Hagan: Some People Have Too Many Legs (Contact Theatre, Manchester)

May 11, 2015kristobel1 Comment

Jackie Hagan: Some People Have Too Many Legs ©Lee Baxter — Jackie Hagan: Some People Have Too Many Legs
©Lee Baxter

Date: 9 may 2015

Upstaged Rating:

Contact Manchester’s Flying Solo Festival celebrates the ability of one artist to hold the stage and the interest of the audience for an entire performance. It makes for an intensive and rewarding experience for the theatre goers and this is particularly true of Jackie Hagan’s show, Some People Have Too Many Legs.

Just before Jackie starts her main show, she comes out onto the stage and introduces herself to the audience, who according to her, ‘look just like Facebook, little squares, only your faces are moving’. Her direct, honest and optimistic style makes her instantly likeable and when she tells us that she is pleased to be performing in the Contact Theatre on this side of Oxford Road, rather than residing as an inpatient over the road at the MRI- where she was 2 years ago when she developed blood clots in her right leg, we share her enthusiasm and appetite for storytelling and performance.

Jackie Hagan is a luminous storyteller, when she relays important happenings in her life – growing up, loss and grief and falling in love during challenging times – she does it with positivity and determination. She juxtaposes feelings of fear and sadness with her sparkly optimism and imagination – her well paced humour glitters throughout engaging our hearts and minds as we wonder what she might reveal to us next.

A white tent, equipped with fairy lights and white lace provide the staging for Jackie’s story. This setting works well as an intimate frame for flashbacks and as a stark and sterile backdrop for the hospital ward. Jackie explores the various coping methods that she found some comfort in when she became an amputee and she also animates a week by week account which assist us in understanding her experience. It is not self pitying but positive and uplifting especially when the performance becomes interactive and we are invited to open the envelopes that we were given at the start of the show. We all share in Jackie’s dream sequence as she holds up a handwritten banner which says “I know you have had to cope too.”

“You’ll notice that where most of you have got a tube of meat I’ve got a pillar of glitter”

Some People Have Too Many Legs is an inspirational show that can be appreciated by everyone. Jackie Hagan’s straight talking, bubbly and empowering persona translates well in performance – not every disabled person wants to be called brave or become a Paralympian. This show is testament that a very beautiful, amusing and cathartic piece of art can emerge from the most difficult of situations and sometimes we all have to “throw some glitter at it in the only way you can”.

-Kristy Stott

You can visit Jackie Hagan’s blog if you click here.

REVIEW – Nirbhaya (Contact Theatre, Manchester)

March 15, 2015kristobel

Date: 14 March 2015

On the night of December 16th 2012, a young woman, Jyoti Singh, and her male friend boarded a bus in Delhi. This 23 year old woman was gang raped by six men, beaten and left for dead – her male friend was unable to defend her as he had been beaten unconscious. This attack shocked the whole world. What happened on this night not only changed the lives of the two young people involved but it became a catalyst for action and protests all over the world. People, men and women began to stand up and stand together; they began to break the silence and talk about their experiences.

Jyoti Singh was given the name ‘Nirbhaya’ by the Indian press before her real identity was released. Nirbhaya means ‘Fearless One’ in Hindi.

It feels wrong to be a theatre critic and watch this show with a view to reviewing it and to give it a star rating. So I put my notebook away. This type of production works beyond and outside of the normal constraints of theatre – asking us to question the role of theatre in spreading an important message and how art can bring about change and give people, who have been previously silenced, a voice.

The cast dressed in black make their way from out of the audience to a barely lit stage, one arm raised, to each tell their stories. Shrouded in white, Singh hands each of the women a prop with which to tell their story – her brutal experience and its coverage around the world has helped other women to come forward and break their silence. They are stories that are unimaginable and stories that really should not be true.

“I want to pull my tongue out from my mouth, like a tree, I want to destroy its roots.”

By taking Singh’s story as a starting point, writer and director Yael Farber, explores the problem of sexual violence against women. Farber makes it perfectly clear that this is not just a problem in India but all over the world, as Pamela Sinha, tells the story of the horrific attack that happened to her while she was living in Canada.

Sneha Jawale recounts the shocking abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband – a dowry bride, she endured horrific experiences of domestic abuse which included being doused in kerosene and set alight. Her tears, real tears, falling down her scarred face – the emotion is raw, it is there for us to see and to hear – she is prepared to speak out and break her silence. Still choked with her tears she makes her way back to the ensemble.

“My body is not mine. My spirit is still intact.”

This catalogue of stories need to be told. They demand words. This is a brave, real and haunting piece of work which stops you in your tracks, leaving you speechless.

-Kristy Stott

Nirbhaya is showing at the Contact on 15 March 2015 at 8pm as part of Sick! Festival