OUT WEST (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://lyric.co.uk/shows/out-west-online

Available until: Livestreams available until 17^th July 2021. 24 hour access.

I read an article a short while ago that suggested monologues had run their course and could not be taken any further; that they were useful when it came to keeping actors away from other actors, but they had no long-term future.

Perhaps the person who wrote that (I can’t remember who it is, but their words have stayed with me because they came as such a surprise) hasn’t been lucky enough to see the incredible monologues I have seen, but I disagreed strongly when I read it and I still disagree now, especially after seeing three remarkable monologues presented by the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith to form the show Out West.

These monologues are not only being presented as a livestream, they are also being performed live in the theatre, currently to a social-distanced audience. Although I’m not in a position to observe how well the play works for a live audience, the plays have received mostly good reviews and the size of the stage seems right for a series of monologues.

Race plays an important role in all three plays and there is some horrific racism but one really important thing that is really brought across strongly in these plays is that race isn’t only relevant when you’re being racially abused. It’s something that’s always there, even when things are, in many respects, going really well. You can be successful and respected; you can be loved completely by your white husband; you can be both very good at your job and a very good mum. But that doesn’t make everything okay.

Another thing that stands out is that all the plays address, in one way or another, the complicated relationships between parents and children. This too seems particularly suited to current times when we’ve either been spending a lot more time with our families or not been able to see them at all.

The plays also all have a connection to Hammersmith, naming some of the parts of the area audiences attending the play might have noticed on their way to the theatre. This makes the plays seem even more like part of the world we live in – because they are part of it. These stories do happen.

Soutra’s Gilmour’s striking set, consisting of a large staircase, works very well for the very different plays and is shown to particularly good advantage by Jessica Hung Han Yun’s lighting. Directors Rachel O’Riordan and Diane Page have all three actors walking around the set, or standing and sitting on different parts of it. It can sometimes seem quite random, though this also gives the play an added realism, with the actors appearing to move as and when the mood takes them, but there are other times when the direction fits so perfectly with the text, it’s impossible to believe it isn’t deliberate and it’s very clever.

Tanika Gupta wrote the first of the plays, The Overseas Student, which tells the story of a teenaged Gandhi, studying law in London and trying to adapt to a culture which doesn’t speak like him, dress like him or eat like him. Esh Alladi gives Gandhi an unexpected vulnerability, but also considerable dignity, telling his story compellingly and movingly, but with a great sense of intelligence and kindness.

Simon Stephens collaborated with Emmanuella Cole to write Blue Water and Cold and Fresh. The country is in lockdown and Jack decides to walk to his childhood home of Hammersmith. The walk brings up not just the very complicated memories of his father, but also his current situation with his wife Jennifer, a black woman (that’s how she describes herself and it seems right to use her words), and their son. The story jumps around from past to present, but the play is easy to follow and very thought-provoking. Tom Mothersdale performs the role of Jack sensitively and powerfully.

Finally, Go, Girl by Roy Williams introduces us to Donna, a security guard with incredible false eyelashes. And why not? It’s another sign of how Donna is absolutely, one hundred percent herself. And we love her for it. It’s an honest, direct and sometimes amusing monologue which didn’t go where I expected it to, but I feel it went to exactly the right place. Ayesha Antoine plays Donna as a very strong, determined and loving woman. You don’t want to mess her around, but she’s a very good person to have on your side.

Out West is a really interesting, thought-provoking and very different selection of monologues. Whether you’d rather book the livestream or go in person, they are definitely worth seeing.