Wasteland

Malaka Chowdhury reviews

Malaka Chowdhury | Friday 19th May 2023 9:59pm

What do you get when you combine thumping beats with the demise of a national vocation? Gary Clarke's Wasteland production at The Rep, of course. This was an intriguing evening of performance dance theatre, and it was definitely something I won't forget in a hurry!
 

Wasteland is the sequel to COAL which examined the 1984/1985 British Miners' Strike, one of the most bitter political battles of modern times. This subsequent production depicts the consequences and upheavals following the industry's demise, most notably the rise of the illegal rave scene of the 1990s. 
 

The auditorium was packed as the play opens to show a drunk man flailing his way across the stage in the darkness, a single red chair illuminated next to him (The Last MIner played by Parsifal James Hurst). He is clearly in distress, and this is confirmed with the newsreel showing the closing down of the 1994 Grimethorpe Colliery. 
This was a tight-knit community of working-class men, and we see regular men sitting reading the paper with a mug of builders tea on their breaks, before we see the whole place get demolished, along with their lives. Now I tend to usually watch to upbeat musical theatre, with sparkly costumes and songs, so I was surprised to suddenly see such raw sorrow onstage, feeling a small bit of what they felt. 

The Brass Players (Deep Harmony) and the Pit Men Singers did a superb job; Robert Edwards, Matthew Greenhalgh, Tim Robbins and Mike Willis of the Birmingham cast singing with gritty pride on behalf of those communities. Men who had been proud to work and support their families, now resigned to the depressing dole queue.

 In the current #Me Too age, this felt like a desperately urgent, male story that needed to be told,  what used to be the core identity of countless men around the country,  a story not often told or even known by the younger generations. So it was particularly gratifying to see several groups of students in the audience, learning national stories that should not be forgotten.

 I also loved the bravery of depicting male pain, especially when there is such a stigma around it. The message was: men have emotions too, and there was no shame in showing that here. This play celebrated communities in all their forms, and did it brilliantly.

And this production was bought to life wonderfully by the powerful music, a central character in itself. We see one generation grind to a halt, as the next generation seek to occupy the void with their own struggles through the new national obsession: the illegal rave scene. The Boy (Rob Anderson) and his taut dance on the mattress listening to his boombox was a particular highlight, his lithe body cutting new shapes around him as he pulsed out his pain. 

The creative team were on fire, especially musical director Steven Roberts by seguing from the first half to the next with the thumping rave soundtrack, lighting and video design (fantastic work by Charles Webber). I was literally in awe as I watched the young group of rebellious rave dancers twist and spin and bop and jump with energy and verve against such booming beats! (Jake Evans, Shelley Eva Haden, Patricia Langa, Emily Thompson Smith). 

We are here now! From the coal ashes, we have risen, their movements seemed to say as they claimed their place on the fractious scene. The dancers keep going as the 1990s newsreels flash policemen in neon uniforms shutting them down,  voiceovers informing us  of the laws at the time.  
I was a little too young to hit the rave scene then, but I could almost feel the palpable defiance through the dynamic dance choreography. It was a good call to cull the interval, because the production's economy packed a powerful punch. And as usual, I didn't see the end coming at all, from a tragic start to a tragic end; everything comes full circle in the end. 

When I first sat drinking my pineapple juice as the play started, I had a rough idea of the story. But I didn't expect to go on such a moving journey of loss, pain and ultimate redemption. It felt good to feel and engage and connect with a lived story for a change, and this was thanks to the keen direction of Gary Clarke. This was one of the best plays I've seen in a long time, and I definitely recommend catching it while you can. 

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