The inspired idea that underpins Chris Bush’s play with songs (by Richard Hawley) is the telling of sixty years of social history through a building, an estate in fact, and one flat within it in particular. Though firmly anchored in Park Hill in Sheffield, it has a universality which makes you feel you are viewing the last sixty years of British social history through this one place and two interconnected families within it. Though the NT building is ten to twenty years younger, it’s architecture seems like an evolution of Park Hill’s brutalist style, so the play sits perfectly on its largest stage. This is a deeply satisfying piece of theatre.
Park Hill is a homage to French architect Le Corbusier, a post-war development meant to recreate the sense of community of the houses it replaced. It was built as a council estate to house thousands of the growing steel town of Sheffield’s working class. Newlyweds Rose and Harry, an ambitious young foreman, make their first home there. Their struggle to start a family eventually succeeds with the birth of son Jimmy. A while later, an influx of immigrants brings refugees Grace, her nephew George and niece Joy, from Liberia. Further on again and Jimmy and Joy get together, marry and give birth to daughter Connie. With the rise of Thatcherism in the 80’s comes unemployment and social unrest and the estate goes into decline and is eventually abandoned until the 21st Century brings regeneration and gentrification and a more affluent owner-occupier influx, here represented by outsider Poppy, escaping from London.
The blend of social history and personal storytelling work well together. In Ben Stones’ design, the stage is a footprint of one flat which houses these different families at different times, the iconic walkways of the estate rising behind and above it. The story hops back and forth between periods, sometimes scenes from each played simultaneously, seamlessly. Hawley’s songs, selected for the show rather than written for it, also seem to grow out of the story, commenting upon and illustrating it, sometimes sung in character, at others ‘in concert’. Though it doesn’t shy away from problematic issues and tragic events, the writing is objective, such as when it makes arguments for and against gentrification.
I was captivated by this show and felt I was looking back at the last sixty years, understanding more by focusing on it as a big picture rather than the detail of particular events. Robert Hastie’s staging is a brilliant use of the space, Hawley’s songs act as a soundtrack of this city and all of the hugely talented performers – too many to list – bring these people to life. One of the most memorable nights I’ve had in many at the Olivier Theatre.
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