Flesh

Many thanks to Fylde Coast Youth TheatreWorx for inviting me to see their production of ‘Flesh’ by Rob Drummond on Saturday 12th November 2022 at the The Studion Theatre at Blackpool Grand. Am not sure where to start with this review, so I will go brave and say, that on the personal level, this is one of the most poignant pieces and notable pieces of theatre I have seen to date, and it was delivered exceptionally well.

The play tells the story of 2 groups of people, the ‘reds’ and the ‘greens’, who find themselves deserted on an on an island in the middle of nowhere, with their short-term memories dissolved; they have no who or where they are, or for what purpose. The story deliberates them all coming to terms with their identity's and why they have been selected to have been chosen to a) to be placed on this island alone with no resources to sustain their existence with their current knowledge and skills for life, and b) to be placed into these groups of green and red. Within this narrative as wide range of strong concepts and ideas about survival, humanitarianism, socio-political and diversity issues, all very current and topical. In true Brechtian style, injected into this story line was more facts, figures and statistics on survival skills, global warming, race, politics and even the meaning of human existence. Added into this all of this dialogue and adding a level of consistency and humour was the use of some very millennial terminology such as “Woke”, “Totes” and “OMG(osh)” etcetera; further alienating and so further adding emphasis to the harsh messaging which was delivered throughout the story.

The piece was directed by Debbie Parkinson and assistant directed by Hannah Brook. The two did extraordinarily well, not only at delivering this storyline which underpinned the piece with a sense of realism, but also juxtaposing the characters years forward to deliver their retrospective story with the injected segments mentioned above. Throughout the piece there was so much light and shade brought about, dramatic pauses at exactly the right moments, the pace was delivered exceptionally well, mixing throw away lines at pace, with the poignant messaging being delivered in a different pace and tone. There were various characterisations brought about within the cast, including those with more primal fight or flight reactions to the scenario and those who delivered more holistic messaging and rationale to drama within the deliver the story. Throughout the piece the staging was used innovatively utilising all the available space available, which also utilised varying uses of levels to keep the stage interesting. During the cover ed throughout the story comment on for their in to lose having all over the camp standing facing forwards.  The juxtaposed segment within the piece were a direct contrast to this with having all the cast standing up, in lines across the stage and facing forwards. I did wonder cover whether this standing could have been taken further by using elements of physical theatre or choreography to further alienate the audience, but I also liked the simplicity of the cast standing facing forward.

The set, sound, costume and lighting design were all very creative. This team converted a black box space into a jungle through using camouflage, dark green tarpaulin, 10-foot logs, leaves and branches, cardboard boxes and other decorations fitting to the desert island feel. Lighting walls mainly full flood wash across the stage. I particularly enjoyed about this element was between each scene was a sharp snap to blackout. Some scenes went straight to another story scene, others went into the juxtaposition sections. Regardless of what came next, the consistency of this lighting further added to the alienation as there was no pattern for expectation to what was coming next, it also added an element of continuity throughout the performance. Accompanying the entire performance was a soundscape which either contextualised the moments within the story, such as water rushing in scenes by the river and sounds of insects and weather to depict more desolate places on the island. To add to the alienation technique there was some quite atonal synthesised music interjected between some scenes and opened the entire piece where the entire cast were holding a freeze frame, which was the aftermath of the story, for 15 minutes while the audience entered into the space. Costume was very simplistic but effective, with all wearing coloured T-shirts, either red or green, introducing this binary idea of grouping which translated into some of the debate some of the diversity messaging underpinning the show. There was the additional character yellow too appeared towards the end of the piece who was coloured in a similar yellow T-shirt. This simplicity added to the intensity of the performance through adding clear context yet not distracting from the verbal material being delivered on stage.

At this point in the review, I would normally call out individual names for their performances or deliberate improvement areas from my perspective. I simply cannot do this with this piece as this was truly a full ensemble performance. Each member of the cast was equally as strong as each other, all giving different characterisations and dynamics into build the narrative and direct messaging. I loved the use of varying volume throughout the cast. I would normally expect this to be of a consistent level throughout, but I adored the quieter moments where I was forced really listen to the text being delivered. This just added further dimensions for the whole performance. All of the cast delivered at least two characters within the show, that of the plain messaging which was almost delivered as if it was a monologue with lines share with the entire cast, and their individual naturalistic characters. At all moments within the show, the cast onstage, even if not involved in the dialogue happening onstage, were fully within their moment and undertaking whatever business they needed to for their character’s personal journey such as trying to build fires, looking at their surroundings in detail, or understanding their emotions of being within the situation. I thought the delivery of all the millennial expressions were superb by all. This notion, to me, was a direct statement on this current generation is perceived as being ‘Snowflake’ and yet it is this generation who are forced to find the ongoing solutions to some of the biggest humanitarian issues we as a race have known.

Thank you once again for Fylde Coast Youth TheatreWorx for inviting me to this wonderful performance, each and every one person involved within this show should be proud hope your achievements of creating this exceptional piece of theatre and I look forward to seeing more from this society.

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