Another full house at the Wardrobe sees Exeter based, Substance and Shadow Theatre, bring a follow up to their previous punk era offering, ‘Duplicity’. On this outing they turn their gaze on the 80’s skinheads. The premise of the show (no writer is credited so presumably devised) is the unremarkable one that you can’t judge a book by its cover. The ‘books’ in this case are a group of Devon based skinheads.
Jem (Midge Mullin) returns to his Devon roots with his girlfriend, Pearl (Rosie Mullin) having been away in London for some time during which he has picked up some repugnant racist attitudes. One-time best mate and ‘brother’ he should have had, Alex (Nathan Simpson), at first shrugs off these new attitudes as some passing London fad, until Jem’s real, deep-seated anger during a football match reveals a troubling darker side to his character. But whilst Jem may represent the stereotypical view of a skinhead, Pearl offers the more nuanced portrait of a girl looking for an identity in the clothes and lifestyle. Underling the point, a soundtrack of Reggae and Two-Tone weaves through the show – a reminder of the more creative part of working-class popular culture from the era.
Alex’s younger brother, Biro (Mike Gilpin), an impressionable and easily led head-banger, falls under the spell of Jem’s new, swaggering confidence, without any real understanding of what it is that Jem is angry about or stands for or how repugnant his views are to ordinary people. Without exploring the issue in any detail there is a hint that Jem’s racism and homophobia springs from a repression of his own homosexual feelings for Alex. Jem eventually inveigles Biro in his plan to carry out an arson attack, only to be shopped by Alex’s ‘Nanna’ (Tracey Norman).
As in the past the company has used a combination of narration and real-time action. The moments of actual interaction and dialogue carried a lot more dramatic weight than the narrative passages and lines like Jem’s angry, ‘Only losers dance to that shit!’ as Biro danced to Black Sabbath, said more about him than reams of narrative. On last night’s showing the transitions from one mode to the other hindered the flow of the action and needed a little more ironing out. Consequently the show felt a little under-rehearsed with relationships still apparently developing. Things were only hinted at, as in the attraction between Pearl and Alex and so characters were yet to properly find their feet.
Judged on previous form there is more to come from this production and a decent run will allow them to explore the potential of their undoubted commitment. ★★☆☆☆ Graham Wyles 28th January 2016
