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Edinburgh Fringe

Paradise in the Vault – Reviewed 5 August, Playing August 6-10, 12-17

Reviewed by Emma Sibbald

4****

Edinburgh’s literary theatre company, Some Kind of Theatre, provides an evening of thought-provoking excitement in their 2019 Fringe offering, Grandmothers Grimm. Marie Hassenpflug has crept away to meet with the curious but innovative Grimm brothers, and a night of argument, recreation and exquisite invention commences, performed by a stellar and highly energetic cast. Grandmother’s Grimm contrasts the warmth of an oft-told tale with an exploration of its genesis, providing a dynamic performance of familiar tales with a profound and questioning edge.

The piece returns us to the original setting down of the ancient tales, before they morphed into bedtime stories for children. The original Grimm tales were certainly moral, but they were also coloured with gruesome details. Who can forget the glint of the scissors used to cut Little Red and her grandmother from the rapacious wolf, or the image of Cinderella’s ugly sisters, desperately removing toes and heels to fit their stepsister’s tiny glass slippers? Modern retellings of these fairytales excise the ghoulish details, and so it is a delight to observe their reintroduction, told skilfully by a cast that recognises the audience’s connection with numerous strands of story; the more sanitised versions, the darkness of the Grimm originals, and a third notion of fairytales, in which women, both as fully realised characters and as thriving creators, take centre stage.

In fairytales, women are everywhere. The charming heroine wears a hood/pricks a finger/marries above her station, and interacts with her grandmother/strange fairies/lonesome crones, fights her sister/more fairies/other queens. Even though men can appear to be the protagonist, it is women who motivate and mould the narrative. Who are these women? What are their beginnings? Grandmother’s Grimm reminds us that the skeletons of these stories did not begin with two gore-mad brothers, but rather as folk tales, told and retold by predominately uneducated women with few resources and soaring imaginations.

The teller of a tale is almost as important as the tale itself – the very nature of oral tradition embraces the personal flourishes and inconsistencies that comes from recreating stories from collective memory, and all four performances captured the fairyteller’s tension between familiarity and originality. Justin Skelton’s gleefully weird rendition of a rooster-riding, bagpipe-playing hedgehog was highly enjoyable, and his performance of Jacob Grimm added a reliably quirky edge to the marriage-shy writer. Gerry Kielty as Wilhelm Grimm persuasively played both charming materialist and violent extortionist, embodying the double act of a storyteller, and Jenny Quinn brought convincing idealism and starry-eyed creativity to the far-seeing Marie Hassenplfug, a fairytale heroine in her own tale of erasure. The play opens to Emily Ingram’s highly physical performance of Old Marie, playing both the wolf and a grandmother, and this double act was involving, even mesmerising. As the petty squabbles of the Grimm brother’s faded, we were reminded that fairytales are still stories that can still leave you breathless, no matter our knowledge of the outcome.

Savoy Theatre – 4 August 2019

Reviewed by Elizabeth J Smith

3***

The Blues Brothers are an iconic duo, with many audience members dressing up to pay homage to their heroes. When released back in 1980 it took America and the rest of the world by storm and their album sold millions of copies and became the biggest selling blues album ever. So with that as a back ground story how could two lads from up North compete?

The show opens with a fun video of the brothers in their personalised American police car chasing through the street’s of London. Setting the scene for a high speed, racy evening.

The band enter the stage and when they start to play you know you’re in for a good night, their enthusiasm, both musically and physically is infectious. They have your toes tapping before the main men arrive.

Jake and Elwood burst onto the stage and have the audience clapping and singing along instantly.

Chris Hindle, Jake Blues, is a large lad as the character dictates but his stamina and athleticism leaves you breathless. His voice is soulful, however, I’m not sure he could hear the band all that well as some tunes were a little off key!

Gareth Davey, Elwood Blues, also jumps about the stage with electricity running through his bones. His deep baritone voice suits many a tune and the combination of the two works well.

The soul sisters all sang extremely expertly but I wasn’t feeling the Motown vibe. Perhaps a more traditional Motown costume would help add to the experience. Their moves were predictable and not very timely.

Overall, the Chicago Blues Brothers left me feeling a little less West End debut, more cruise ship entertainment. It didn’t have the polish of a Westend show. But it didn’t stop the audience from stomping their feet and clapping their hands and dancing in the aisles.

If this show was to make it too a West End theatre for a run it would need more direction and better choreography.

I felt it was a diamond in the rough that could do with a good polish.

Grand Opera House York Friday 2nd August 2019

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

3***

A Vision of Elvis starring former soldier Rob Kinsley, celebrates the legend that was Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. This year sees Rob celebrating 10 years touring as an Elvis tribute act. On Friday he returned once again to the Grand Opera House in York as part of this current tour.

Rob certainly has a following, you could tell by some of the eager audience, there was a wide variety of ages, both male and female. Once the curtain went up we got to see the band, on this occasion a drummer, keyboard player, lead and bass guitarists and two female singers. The anticipation was palatable, and then Elvis appeared on stage, in all his black leather look finery. I did comment that he must have been extremely hot in that outfit, but you couldn’t tell, at that stage anyway.

Along with four outfit changes we got to listen to such great Elvis songs as Heartbreak Hotel, Love Me Tender, Suspicious Minds and many more. I must admit the first half I was not convinced with the whole act, but the second half pulled it back, much to my relief, I so wanted to be blown away by this show. Rob interacted with the audience by chatting, but I could barely understand anything he was saying in the first half. His southern American accent certainly needs a lot of work. Once he returned after the interval it was like listening to a completely different person, I could understand him, he did not appear to be trying so hard, and it was a 1000% improvement. I just so wish it had been that way throughout the show as it would have totally changed my experience.

During the costume changes the two female vocalists, the Sweet Sensations performed solo numbers, and then later on in the show treated us to Proud Mary, where Rob joined in. That was a brilliant rendition and showed how good they really were. Their costumes were very sparkly, blue in the first half before changing to red, nothing wrong with a bit of bling. The band, which I believe was streamlined for this show, did a fabulous job recreating the sound of Elvis, in their black gear for the first half and the obligatory white for the second.

The staging was very simple with just a simple back drop. After the interval it depicted Las Vegas, with its bright lit up signage. This did not really matter, after all who goes to a concert to look at that? Rob and his choreography, not that there was a lot, was a big hit and miss, sometimes he smashed it, but other times it fell a bit wide of the mark and not that polished.

The costumes were all pretty fantastic, and Rob certainly wore the white jumpsuit, well, both the tiger and jewel encrusted one. You could tell he was extremely hot and at one stage commented that this was the hottest stage he had ever performed on, but carry on he did.

What really made the show was his interaction with the audience, and the second half was so much better. He was witty with a great sense of humour, down to earth and seemed to really care about the audience who had paid to see him, that was lovely and refreshing to see. He even grabbed a fan, Sue, up on stage to sing with him, she absolutely loved it and it got a huge cheer from the audience. He even has a supply of silk scarves that he drapes around his neck before tossing into the baying crowd, very Elvis. Some lucky audience members even got some cute teddy bears, which were thrown out whilst playing Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear. Needless to say, our seats were too far away.

One thing I did notice was the too white teeth and far too much make up, he looked far to plasticly. I have since looked online at other photos and he did look so much better before. I have also found out that the performance before this was postponed due to ill health, perhaps that were the reason for any negatives I have mentioned.

I can understand why he has amassed such a loyal following, especially after the performance in the second half. Overall it was an enjoyable night, full of that Elvis bling, that had the audience up dancing on their feet.

Edinburgh Fringe

Paradise at Augustine’s – Reviewed 2 August, Playing until 10 August

Reviewed by Manetta McIntosh

5*****

Scarily Good

If you are a fan of musicals and can’t choose between the 20 or so on offer at the Fringe, look no further. The Addams Family is, by far, one of the best musicals I have seen, and this production was star quality. When you see it you will wonder why you are not watching this at one of the main theatre’s, however, part of the charm of the Festival is the quirky venues that host the shows and Paradise at Augustine’s is perfect for this creepy family as it is a church.

This musical is based on Charles Addams’ characters about a ‘fairly’ dysfunctional family who are trying to come to terms with their daughter wanting something different to the family norm. The story challenges relationships and family values and you don’t have to talk to your dead relatives to relate to it. Despite this family being together for a veryyyyyy long time, this show takes on inter-dimensional relationships and how one person’s journey impacts on everyone else.

The acting and singing was superb and the delivery was spot on. I was laughing from start to finish with a little bit of ‘the feels’ in the middle. Michael Davies who played Gomez and Rebecca Drever who played Wednesday had the lion’s share of the songs and they had me captivated. I could see Rebecca playing the part of Elphaba in Wicked and not because it’s another ‘dark’ character but her voice would be perfect to sing Gravity.

The chemistry between Gomez and Morticia (Jo Heinemeier) translated on stage, you believed they were a couple who were conflicted with this discovery about their relationship that they thought was so solid. Morticia appeared as if she was floating around the stage, there was no theatrical trickery, smoke covering her feet etc, but she just seemed…to float. And, although it may only have got a ‘seveeeeen’ in a popular dance show, their Tango was delightfully amusing.

We were not privy to the build up of the relationship between Wednesday and Lucas (Andrew Hornyak) we meet them as they decide they want to get engaged. Their story highlighted that whilst there may be obvious differences on the outside, we all want the same things for our kids at the core, to be safe and happy. Julia Weingaertner and Benji Sumrie who played Lucas’ parents portrayed the perfect couple who really were not that perfect at all, but Granma’s hooch sorted their relationship out.

Other cast members who particularly stood out were Fester (Andrew Gardiner) and Grandma (Caitlin Davis), their characters really ‘came to life’, pun intended. Grandma wetting herself after a bit of mid-dinner exertion and Fester singing to the moon were most memorable. Lurch’s (Cameron Kirby) comedy untiming was perfect and the Ancestors where key in many aspects of the scenes without having a main speaking part, seeing a dead person do a one-handed cartwheel was quite impressive.

The musical numbers perfectly punctuated the story and the choreography was spot on, but what amazed me the most was how perfect the voices complimented each other when all singing together. Considering the venue the sound and lighting were all exceptional, I cannot rate this production enough.

Southwark Playhouse – until 3 August 2019

Reviewed by Alexandra Sykes

4****

80s nostalgia is a big thing at the moment so what better way to spend a Friday evening than watching one of the best things from the 80s.

Set in the fictional town of Bomont, Footloose tells the story of a group dog teenagers who want the right to dance and have a school prom. Led by new boy Ren (Tom Handley) the teens explain why they should be allowed to have the dance and why the actions of teens in the past shouldn’t affect them today.

Although the cast are all young they were amazing. Handley gives a superb performance as Ren and Charlotte Windell is a fantastic Ariel but true stars of the show are Bradley Riches as Willard and Gemma McKay as Rusty. The pair steal the show every time they are one stage and although McKay seemed to have problems with her shoes during the last dance number she didn’t let it stop her. The best scene in the show is McKay and Windell singing I Need a Hero, along with Jasmine Woodward and Kiki Brookes-Truman who play Wendy-Jo and Urleen respectively. The four song their hearts out and the reveal of sparkly dresses under their characters costumes gives the show the wow factor.

Although the scenery is basic the cast are able to utilise every last bit of it and the audience are left wanting more. The costumes are similar to those worn in with the original movie and the remake but are given their own twist to make them stand out.

All in all a good night out which will leave you singing and dancing for days afterwards, grab yourself a ticket whilst you can and go and see the show.

Greenwood Theatre- London – until 3 August 2019

Reviewed by: Sabrina Fancy

4****

Inspired by the 2000 hit film Bring It On starring Kirsten Dunst, this production follows the competitive world of high school cheer-leading. The show is presented by The Quay Players. Directed by Kate Hannam, this company was established as an amateur musical theatre group in 1997.

I was curious to see how such a successful film comprising of complex cheerleading routines would translate on the live stage and had some reservations but as I turned up to a sold our show on opening night, I realised my fears were unfounded.

The story revolves around pretty blond and privileged Campbell, who is the current head cheerleader from predominantly white and wealthy Truman High School. She is determined to lead her team to victory at the cheerleading national championships. However her dreams are crushed after she is deviously transplanted into an inner city neighboring school Jackson high which gasp- does not have a cheerleading squad!

Campbell makes it her mission to befriend the Jackson high hip hop crew with the intent of secretly transforming them into a cheerleading squad to compete against her previous nemesis Eva who has now taken over her old cheerleading squad.

The very beginning of the show focused on life at Truman high, I feared that this was going to be an overdone teen age drama love story but this was actually about the development female friendships and loyalty which was very refreshing.

The shift to Jackson high raised the level of excitement and energy with the characters, music and dance moves generating a lot of interest and enthusiasm from the crowd.

The time barely registered as the stage was engulfed with great dance moves, cheerleading flips and colorful costumes. There was an energy which was consistent throughout the evening! The hard-working ensemble show high energy and precision, especially with slick choreography. The Cheerleading routines are particularly impressive considering the small space.

The hardworking cast was a key contributor of the enjoyment of Bring it on. I also loved the cast who were of differing ethnic backgrounds but also of various shapes and sizes, echoing a message of inclusion which I sadly find to be a rarity in musical theatre.

The characters were very well developed and you really felt yourself rooting for the underdogs! In particular the standouts were Jackson high’s Danielle played by Gabriella Mccoy who brought a great mix of toughness and vulnerability along with powerful vocals. The scenes with Danielle and her squad were some of the most enjoyable! We also see the transformation of Bridgette, (played by Emily Law) who transforms from a dork to a fierce friend, singer and friend while finding a romantic partner.

There was constant humor and the vocals were strong with very catchy tunes. Unsurprising given the fact that the Music was created by Tom Kitt and Lin Manuel Miranda, the later who is behind the musical fame of Hamilton and has been nominated for an Oscar. The superior music in this is reflective of this work.

If you want a fluffy, upbeat musical then this will delight as the cut throat satirical world of cheerleading resulted in many laugh out loud moments.

Bring It On is currently playing at the Greenwood theatre until Saturday August 3rd.

Edinburgh Fringe

Assembly Rooms – Reviewed 1 August, Playing until 25 August

Reviewed by Manetta McIntosh

4****

The One That Has Potential.

This parody musical of the hugely successful Friends series may seem a bit confusing to anyone who has not watched Friends, in fact, it may confuse some who have seen it. The show covers 10 years of the series in 1 and a half hours with a timeline that is slightly distorted, but this is part of the show.

Jamie Lee-Morgan’s depiction of Ross is like watching the episode with Russ, it is…but it isn’t. In fact most of the cast where spot on with their version of the Friends characters, Thomas Mitchells may not have looked exactly like Chandler but he had his mannerisms and catch phrases off pat. However, Sarah Goggins WAS Monica Geller, I could not take my eyes off her when she was acting because it was like Courtney was in the room. The only one who I could not really place was Joey, Jordan Fox did not look or really sound like the loveable rogue, but you knew who he was supposed to be…even though he never once appeared on stage with blue lipstick.

The show definitely has potential, there were so many comedy references to iconic scenes that will have true fans howling at parts of the script, but for me some of the lines were delivered so quickly I almost missed the punchline. Some of the gags were visual, *Spoiler Alert* I don’t think you need to sit too close to the front to be able to see Rachel’s (Charlotte Elizabeth Yorke) nipples, it was almost as if they were becoming more obvious as the show went on, and Monica with the turkey on her head was as funny in this version as it was in the original.

There are a couple of very important faces that made an appearance, some of them were the main cast doubling up, but my favourite had to be Gunther who, I believe, was played by Duncan Burt, he had the dead-pan coffee shop owner to a tee. He also came on as Magnum PI during the very catchy song ‘Richard’s Moustache’. Jordan Fox doubling up as Chloe the hot Xerox girl was pure genius and oddly attractive, and Ohhhh Myyyyyy Gawddddddd no series or version of Friends would be complete without Janice.

There were parts of the behind the scenes production that needed tweaking, the sound was sketchy at times and the scene changes were awkward, I also felt that the venue was too small for the production, but that is likely down to the resources available during the Fringe. The cast worked incredibly hard to make the scene/costume changes as smooth as possible as they were also doubling up as the stage crew, during the dream scene the costume change for Chandler was so quick his zip was still down.

I think if you don’t expect this to be a replica of Friends or a follow on from where they ended, then fans will love it.

Brockley Jack Studio Theatre – until 3 August 2019

Reviewed by Catherine Françoise

4****

Katheryn Howard was Queen of England from 1540 until 1541 and is well known as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. 

She was beheaded at the Tower of London on the 15th February 1542 aged just 17 and this play chillingly suggests her body was covered in lime to leave ‘no trace’. Certainly no trace of her body has ever been found. 

A gruesome and upsetting tale indeed and the subject of an interesting, unsettling new play by Catherine Hiscock.

The spelling of the title name Katheryn, comes from one surviving signature on the only surviving letter written by herself where she called herself ‘Katheryn’.  But other spellings also still exist including ‘Catherine’ and ‘Kathryn’ and so it is very hard to say which spelling is the original one. 

The recent interest and popularity of Henry’s 6 wives because of SIX the Musical perhaps now give other theatrical endeavours an added gravitas though this play is rather less ‘entertaining’ and rather more intense, thought provoking and disturbing. It is quite something to realise just how young this girl was when ~ around 11 or 12 years old ~ she was first molested by her 36 year old music teacher Henry Mannox. She was then pursued and she alleged, repeatedly raped aged14/15 by courtier Francis Dereham who said he was in love with Katheryn and wanted to marry her.

Who knows the truth? Only one letter written by Katheryn survives to (unfortunately) Henry’s  favourite male courtier, Thomas Culpeper,  Katheryn had considered marrying Culpeper during her time as a maid-of-honour to Anne of Cleves, and she was clearly extremely fond of him though she was adamant to the end that she had not betrayed Henry for him.  But the accusations made were essential to manipulate her ultimate downfall and free the King from her. 

It is to Hiscock’s credit that she not only has written this play but also plays her (differently spelt) namesake. There is an intensity, desperation and depth to her portrayal of young Katheryn. Hiscock’s play is set in the tower where the 17 year old Katheryn dreads and awaits her fate. I found this genuinely upsetting. It is recorded that Archbishop Cranmer when sent to question her,  described the teenager as frantic and incoherent saying, “I found her in such lamentation and heaviness as I never saw no creature, so that it would have pitied any man’s heart to have looked upon her.” He ordered the guards to remove any objects that she might use to commit suicide.

Little wonder! She must have been utterly terrified. As her female companions tell what has been said and the accusations against her she retells from her own perspective. It is clear she was groomed and was led into sexual activity by older men (and women) at court. She is genuinely confused but also excited by the feelings and sensations discovered in these encounters. No one would have much cared about any of it until the King sets eyes on her at Court aged around 15. He makes her his 5th wife but then uses her past behaviour against her only a few years later. 

Katheryn Howard is indeed a very “poignant examination of power, truth and blame set against the closeted, opposing confines of the Tudor court”. 

Hiscock’s four other female supporting cast work well together. All five cast remain on stage the entire 75 minutes and it is clear which character(s) each person is playing with some compelling acting from Natalie Harper, Srabani Sen, Emmanuela Lia and Francesca Anderson.

I was a bit confused as to why the costumes are contemporary, as it is clearly presented as an historical piece of its time despite the language being less formal. Although the women occasionally play their male trial accusers, they mostly portray female characters and skirts would have made more sense (to me). If wearing trousers was supposed to make us relate the gossiping / accusations / tittle tattle to current day, I’m not sure it worked. It looked rather that they had run out of money for costumes so made do. But this is a small niggle and does not in any way diminish the substance of the play nor the acting.  

This is an interesting and powerful play that deserves a longer run (and hopefully better costumes).  There is much interesting historical information without feeling force fed. It is certainly disturbing but powerful and thought-provoking.

“There are men talking about me now…

Talking about you but mainly about me”

Definitely one for history buffs and those intrigued looking at things from a strong female perspective. 

Grand Opera House York – Wednesday 31 July 2019

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

4****

The Elo Experience have been recreating and celebrating the music of Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra for the past 13 years. With a sensational string section, a laser light show and a large screen projection, The ELO Experience accurately reproduce the songs and sound of ELO, taking you back to where it all began in the 1970’s.

It was great to see so many bums on seats at the theatre, I was expecting the majority to be over a certain age, but I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a wide range of ages, from early teen, to just a wee bit older. You could feel the anticipation in the air before the 8 piece group appeared on stage. What followed was a packed set full of ELO songs.

ELO were just a little bit before my time, but I do remember a few songs, and a few others were just niggling in the back of my mind, others I had completely no idea. This honestly did not matter at all as they were all just really good musicians and they put on a great show.

Some of the songs are accompanied by short films on the big screen that made up the backdrop. One to note here is a Lego animation, which accompanied The Diary of Horace Wimp. Whilst I really enjoyed this short piece, the lady who I sat next to commented about how she disliked the film, just goes to prove how we all have different tastes. After the interval the blue glow sticks came out and the light show began, adding to the whole atmosphere.

The band are made up of Andy Louis, the lookalike and soundalike Jeff Lynne, Steve Hemsley on keyboards and special effects vocals, Pete Smith on bass guitar and vocals, Jan Christiansen on lead guitar and vocals and Tony Lawson on drums. They do truly deliver a fabulous homeage to the ELO legacy, and are marvellous musicians. The icing on the cake though, are the string section. All three were absolutely fantastic and certainly make the show what it is. Francesca McDonald and Rachel Hoffman, on their cellos, certainly rocked it. Liz Stacey on her blue violin was just memorizing, a true joy to listen to and watch, wow just wow! All 8 musicians looked like they were having a complete blast, and appeared to be a tight knit group.

With the finale song of Mr Blue Sky, a song I do remember and could sing along to with no problem, probably to the detriment of the poor bods sitting next to me, it was a fitting end to an enjoyable show. A nostalgic evening of great entertainment, that truly captures the era and gets the whole audience rocking in their seats. the most important and influential bands ever.

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – until 10 August 2019

Reviewed by Julie Noller

4****

Neither I, or the audience members sitting close to me at the matinee performance of There is a Light That Never Goes Out, truly knew very much about Luddites as a movement – never mind the rebellion this plays tag line refers to. In my mind they were a group of people hell bent on wanton destruction. Would history actually prove me wrong?

What becomes apparent is that there’s no excuses, no this is why, no this actually happened. But what it does very clearly is what all theatre does well and that’s tell a story. Where it goes in between or at the end is yours to decide upon. The feeling you have in the set up of the Royal Exchange theatre is one of belonging to a crowd perhaps in the throes of a riot, perhaps as an innocent bystander.

Created by James Yeatman and Lauren Mooney who bring together some painstaking research into those few years that saw the industrial revolution, wars in Europe and the American colonies not to mention a mad King and a Prince Regent that’s all a side line to the tales of an experienced weaver scared at the coming advancement of the power loom. Much as we protest today at self service checkouts and computers replacing workers this is a fear and struggle that will always be there in some manifestation forcing insecurities to the forefront. What does a man do when faced with poverty, unable to feed himself and his family? Irrational acts are born out frustration and fear, anger. Survival of the fittest often does not mean accepting technology and improvements. New money was bred with the mills of industry booming, old money had managed the peasants, keeping them in their places with pompous propriety. New money enjoyed the new privileges and change whilst calling for new changes, it was a tornado of public unrest that would see them struggle to hold sway in the power struggle.

We must applaud the cast of six multi talented actors who take on multiple roles, quick costume changes; ok so it might only have been a coat and hat but it was enough to not confuse us. Amelda Brown, Nisa Cole, David Crellin, Reuben Johnson, Daniel Millar and Katie West bring to the stage a poignant tale of our very own history, the audience will have contained a distant relative of one of the characters or at least someone who was caught up with the Luddites.

What is incredible is that the riot act was read all those years ago after a public meeting within the very same building in which we were sat; yes The Royal Exchange. This part of our history of which we know so little occurred under the very same roof we now looked upon. It is as we are told from the very first spoken words a tale based upon some facts extremely well researched and equally a small dose of speculation to fill in the blanks. Luddites led by the so called General Ludd, King Ludd or Captain Ludd, why so many names? Perhaps because he didn’t exist as we believed. But rather a faceless name to bring the impoverished workers together, what better than to gather many together in mass protests.

Like a religion, this was a form of early trades union, secretive in recruiting members. The set is somewhat simplistic a deep red (like the blood that runs deep) platform that rises like the Pennine hills that separate many of the old mill towns. Its transformation from peaceful existence of cottage industry, birds chirping, breeze rustling to the booming ear splitting heavy machinery of the mills is impressive. How we see Clem a young daughter defy her father and begin back breaking work in the local mill in order to put food on the table. The desperation to feed families keeps the workers going, life is no longer simplistic but monotonous. Her father in turn worries about his livelihood, fearing the changes that are coming he joins the Luddites and life moves on as those fears are mirrored in each class, mill owners fear for their new found wealth, old ruling classes fear change will lead to them losing position.

The sounds throughout are a bold move, instead of using sight as a main sense we are treated with many sounds to follow and yet I saw everything glass smashing as in those bubbles, heavy loom machinery deafening to all, birds chirping quietly. It isn’t so much horrible histories as complicated histories. Don’t expect to understand this era, prepare to walk away confused. There is no definitive answer as to just who the Luddites were. Their hold was only a few short years, but 20 years before workers rights led to some men being given the right to vote, nearly a century before women would see that privilege. It didn’t really stretch the full length of the country and you could be forgiven for not knowing any reasons why they happened but it’s just a small stepping stone in our past that brings about change. They were executed, or sent to the colonies but they were beaten out of the country that ultimately feared revolution above change. That’s the lesson we learn from the rather flat ending, although we were told it’s an ending we all know. Not so much from the history books but by witnessing life around us.

Change isn’t always welcomed but rather thrust upon us by those around us. There is a Light That Never Goes Out, could refer to the mill lights, the workers cottages or it could refer to constant change never ending – no one can stop progress.