“There was a fork in her face. An actual fork. He dug a fork into her face. A fork stood on end in her cheek. A fork.” says Paul Smalley as he visited Manchester’s Royal Exchange this week to watch Shed Exploded View
What a statement and unusually for The Royal Exchange a sparsely populated theatre for the performance of director’s Atri Banerjee interpretation of Phoebe Eclair – Powell’s playwrighting.
By the end of the 1 hour 30 minutes performance (no interval and on this occasion one is not required), some may understand why it’s sparsely populated!
Others will wonder why it’s not packed to the rafters!
If you want an entertaining concept of some of life’s realities then this is possibly not for you, however if you want, thoughtful, powerful, theatre with a dark background and realism then get down to The Royal Exchange.
We commence at New Year 1993/1994 and follow the lives of three couples over three decades, their family,lovers, partners, honeymoons, fireworks,babies, birthdays, really all the realities of life and surely at times, we will all see ourselves somewhere in the journey.
A revolving black stage, white chalk used descriptively, virtually no props and limited lighting used so effectively assisting in the required visual requirements.
The acting from the six impressive cast, Hayley Carmichael (Lil), Jason Hughes (Frank), Norah Lopez Holden (Albi) Will Johnson (Tony), Lizzy Watts (Naomi), and Michael Workeye (Mark) are so articulate and mesmerising in their personal conviction of the parts they play that at times you love them, but equally at times you despise them, just superb acting by one and all with everyone outstanding.
Each scene and there are many all with there own title in the one hour 30 minutes are impeccable, and hence the chalkings are prevalent.
This leads to one of the largest programmes (or should I say “Play Texts”), I’ve seen which includes all the usual references to the performers, directors,etc, but also a full script of the evening production.
The Royal Exchange should be applauded for producing productions like this, superb hard hitting, truthful view of the realities of life that sometimes we all close our eyes to.
Shed Exploded View runs until the the 2nd March 2024 and tickets are available from £10 per ticket.
As a personal footnote there are numerous references to adultery, drug use, domestic violence and bad language which may not be suitable for a younger audience.
Photo Credit Johan Persson
