Theatre / Review
Review: Southside Stories, Tobacco Factory Theatres
With eloquence, an invisible bus, talking dogs and some disco beats, Southside Stories casually takes down prejudice and discrimination.
A thoroughly Bristolian production, beautifully crafted and performed, Liz Mytton’s play doesn’t pull any punches in its examination of deprivation, poverty, hate crime and communities who feel left behind.
Yet the subject is tackled with such humour and wit that it lifts the audience with a sense of hope rather than despair – and the message is all the more powerful for it.
is needed now More than ever
Set principally at a bus stop, waiting for a bus that will never arrive, the play, performed in Tobacco Factory Theatres’ Spielman Theatre, takes the colourfully-clad cast on a unique trip to Southside, a mystical and little-known neighbourhood between Hartcliffe, Withywood and Bishopsworth.
Here, everyone is accepted no matter what their race, sexuality, gender or background, and there is joy and opportunities for all.
Produced by Mytton and Jess Wright, in partnership with Zion Community Space, Southside Stories deftly tackles the intertwining forces of hate crime (giving the stark facts of the hundreds reported in Bristol last year), inequality and oppression.
Barely any performance method is left out of the production, which encompasses dialogue, rhyme, song, dance, mime and more. Yes, sometimes it borders on cheesy but many of the best shows do.
There is a particularly notable rap solo by Simeon Wynne, who admirably takes on the mantle of representing ‘the youth’: the anger of a mixed-race 18-year-old set up to fail, the lack of aspirations of teenagers with nothing else to do but hang around on a street corner. Wynne portrays the raw, hopeless emotion of it all, bringing in sparks of the infectious humour that runs throughout the play.
A superbly-acted scene with Matt Greenfield, Avril Marshall and Kathryn Jefferson as three dogs waiting for their owner outside the pub brings the house down and brilliantly portrays the fear of change and difference within neighbourhoods.
Poignant, funny and relatable, Southside Stories makes it clear that this Utopian paradise where diversity is celebrated and everyone gets along could be achieved if enough people have the will. It challenges the audience to play their part.
The play packs a powerful punch and shows that light can be found even in the darkest tines, ending on a high to rapturous applause – and disco tunes.
“Will it be shown in Hartcliffe and Withywood?,” I overhear one member of the audience ask. This is the sort of groundbreaking piece of work that certainly should be shown there and, across Bristol and beyond. Proof, once again that entertainment can be one of the strongest tools to help break down barriers.
Southside Stories was performed at Tobacco Factory Theatres from Feb 6-7. For more info, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/southside-stories
Read more: Preview: Southside Stories, Tobacco Factory Theatres
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