OUTSIDE (Orange Tree Theatre)****

 

By Louise 

Link: https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/outside/about

Available until: Livestreams Friday 16^th April at 7.30pm, Saturday 17^th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm

Outside is a sort of sequel to Inside, which was streamed on the Orange Tree site three weeks ago. Both are made up of three short plays. The first three plays have the theme of Inside and the second three have the theme of Outside.

The three plays all use the same set. There are lots of different chairs and a sort of white structure which can be climbed on with a white sheet over the top. I’m not completely sure what it is, but the way the characters use it tells you a lot about them.

The first Outside play is called Two Billion Beats. It’s by Sonali Bhattacharyya. It’s about two school-age sisters called Asha and Bettina. Asha is confident and a bit of a rebel and at the start of the play, she’s trying to clean graffiti from a wall. Bettina is less confident and she is being bullied by children who are forcing her to give them money.

It is a very interesting scene to watch with two really good characters. I really like the way they relate to each other and the underlying reasons. Zainab Hasan is confident, outspoken and a bit intimidating as Asha, but there is something really admirable about her. Ashna Rabheru is an anxious but very sweet Bettina. The kind of girl who doesn’t want to cause trouble. I really like both of them because they are both good people and they care about each other and they have a great connection. I think it’s an Outside play partly because they are outside and partly because they’re outsiders in different ways.

The second play is Prodigal by Kalungi Ssebandeke and it is also about two siblings. But this time, it’s a brother and sister and they’re adults. Kasujja comes home a week late for his mum’s funeral. His sister Rita is angry with him for not being there, for not calling or visiting. She doesn’t know why he came back. But he is about to tell her.

The writing is really emotional and even when the characters are arguing (which they are most of the time), there is a really big sense of connection between Kasujja and Rita which stops both of them from walking away. Fiston Barek and Robinah Kironde are both really good at presenting their sides of the argument and make sure we sympathise with both of them. I think this is an Outside play because Rita doesn’t want to let Kasujja inside and because Kasujja feels like an outsider in his own family.

The last play is The Kiss by Zoe Cooper. There are siblings in this story too. It’s lockdown and Lou, the main character, sometimes see the neighbours’ children, who are siblings. The story is also about Lou’s relationship with her wife Soph and with her neighbours. There’s also a guinea pig who is very important.

We have the script for the Inside and Outside plays and this play is written down like a poem, not rhyming but with a sort of rhythm to it. It’s also written as a series of episodes which is how life can feel in lockdown. Temi Wilkey, who plays Lou, is brilliant at describing all the different situations and the different characters, and also at making the episodes feel separate so we don’t get confused. I think this is an Outside play because the outside has become so important to Lou. The outside world is somewhere she can’t be in at the moment and for Lou, a lot of her best experiences come from being in the garden and watching other people in theirs.

I really like all these plays a lot and it is really good to see the Orange Tree Theatre working with writers and actors of colour and showing the world how talented they are and what a wide range of stories they can tell.