From One Extreme to the Other

GW Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham 8th March 2008 

 This play, commissioned by Oldham Council as a contribution to challenging the extreme attitudes prevalent in all sections of our community, was presented to the participants in the We're in it Together event at the QE Hall.

Mossley based playwright Mike Harris wrote the play, after extensively researching the background through face to face meetings with key people in Oldham.

The story is about a group of Asian and white schoolfriends who go their separate ways and the male characters become radicalised by their experiences of deprivation and perceived discrimination in their segregated adult lives. This leads them to fall prey to fascist extremists: in one case through white nationalism, and in the other through Islamist extremism.

The female characters do their best to disabuse their male associates of their racist notions, mostly unsuccessfully until each discovers his mentor is in fact a fraud and poltical opportunist.

The acting is extremely good throughout, especially the female players who double up as the 14 year old brothers of the protagonists with sometimes hilarious authenticity. 

The play successfully draws the parallel with the manifestations of right wing extremism in both white and Muslim populations, coming to an exciting climax as the fascist and Islamist leaders address their respective rallies urging violence against their perceived enemies.

A Muslim colleague made a minor criticism of the remark by the female Muslim character suggesting that she wore the hijab or veil to "wind people up". This may happen, but generally Muslim women choose to wear the Muslim dress for religious and/or cultural reasons. The other attempts at humour and self-parody work well however, especially with the inebriated "Chronicle" reporter, who manages nevertheless to give a fairly accurate assessment of where our society has gone wrong over the years. The play may have been improved if more emphasis had been given to the background of economic transformation and decline which lies at the heart of the hopelessness which many people feel, and which creates the fertile ground for fascist ideas to grow.

Oldham Council has been severely criticised in the years since the disturbances of 2001 for its failings in creating the conditions for them, and for its lack of action to tackle segregation. OMBC therefore deserves praise for commissioning this very worthwhile contribution to dealing with the issues which our local fascists have tried to utilise in promoting the "race war" which they crave. In taking the play to thousands of young and old people around the borough, we sincerely hope that it's message will hit home, and help reduce the worst tendencies of each section of our community blaming another for its problems. 

MG 11/3/08

 

 

John Etheridge at Shaw Playhouse2: 30th November 2007

It's not often that Oldham gets an appearance by a truly world-class musician, so congratulations are in order to Playhouse2 for bringing legendary jazz guitarist John Etheridge to Shaw.

Jazz fans will know Etheridge from his days as sideman to Diz Disley, Stephane Grappelli and as a solo artist. I remembered him most vividly for his performance as the guitarist for the jazz rock group Soft Machine in one of those simultaneous TV and radio broadcasts on the BBC in the mid seventies.

My youthful musical tastes up to that concert were developing in the rock music genre, where heated debates raged among my contemporaries over the relative merits of rock guitarists such as Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore. Hearing John Etheridge walk all over those guys with a series of blistering and intense solos, lasting several minutes at a time, was a turning point for me in exploring modern jazz.

In this solo guitar performance, John showed occasional touches of his Soft Machine style, but these were just one of the amazing repertoire of pieces which enthralled the audience from start to finish. We were treated to rhythmic sounds from Cameroon and Madagascar, ethereal free-form electronic creations, and searing Jimi Hendrix songs. Revealingly though, John referred to his acoustic guitar, on which he recreated the spirit of the Paris Hot Club with some blistering Rheinhardt style playing, as his "proper guitar."

He displayed a remarkable versatility with his instruments, showing elements of the great Stanley Jordan's technique by setting up one guitar with two bass strings to allow self-accompaniment on several songs.

Unfortunately, the requirement to swap instruments and re-arrange the furniture to suit the different styles produced the one discordant note of the night. This occurred when John's favourite electric guitar toppled over and agonisingly crashed to the floor, snapping the neck in the process. The audience groaned in unison, and the sympathy with a clearly distraught Etheridge was palpable. I don't know what analogy could compare with such an unlucky break? Maybe a top snooker player breaking his trusty cue the night before a championship match would be the nearest? John's main concern was how to put on a performance without it for his next concert, due to be in Birmingham the very next night.

What this incident showed more than anything, was John's tremendous professionalism in recovering from the shock to complete his performance with no loss of concentration or quality, and to keep up his good humour to the end - which must have been difficult in the circumstances.

The concert wound up with Etheridge generously inviting supporting artist Kit Holmes on to the stage to duet with him for a performance of Take Five. It was clear from what we had seen that here was a jazz great, taking tremendous pleasure in entertaining us, and with such a down to earth and generous spirit that it made me slightly annoyed that he has to play to such small audiences at obscure venues to make a living. But there again, if he was performing at the MEN Arena in front of thousands we wouldn't have experienced the intimacy of the performance and the essence of the man in such a tangible way.

I just hope he has managed to get that guitar fixed. The man is a pure genius.

MG

 

Theatre Review: King Cotton at The Lowry 22^nd September 2007

 

This is a first for the Oldham TUC website – call me a philistine but I have never quite felt the need to be a regular attendee at theatrical productions. Only if there is some political aspect will I venture forth into the world of high culture, and so it was that I found myself in a front row seat at the matinee performance of King Cotton at The Lowry.

 

King Cotton is the product of the ideas of Ian Brownbill, the writing of Jimmy McGovern and the directorship of Jude Kelly. It tells the story of the parallel but connected tragic lives of Northern English mill workers and African slaves at the time of the American Civil War.

 

The story is backed by superb brass band playing by the Ashton-under-Lyne band, and some terrific singing and acting by the cast. The misery and anguish of the tale is punctuated in total contrast by the satirical comedy of McGovern, highlighted by a particularly irreverent portrayal of God and a hilariously off-message Abraham Lincoln.

 

As I have said above, I am no experienced theatre critic, so how good the production rates on a technical scale I can’t really comment. But in terms of its emotional impact, I do know it smacked me right between the eyes, and therefore gets a five star rating from me. In fact I defy anybody with an ounce of humanity to sit through this play without a lump in the throat and/or a tear in the eye. And not just politically correct soppy sentimentality either: the action makes you feel anger and frustration that after all this time, we still live in a society where we all cheerfully buy cheap clothes made by sweatshop labour in third world countries. This is, of course, one of the main messages of the play.

 

Judging by some of the “professional” reviews I have read, some critics seem to have missed the point entirely – bleating about the “two-dimensional” nature of the main characters, as if the story is somehow lacking a human interest. I suspect these middle class miseries would find more inspiration in the pretentious rubbish which passes for art in The Lowry Galleries. King Cotton may be lacking in finesse in parts, but it makes up for this in its heart, and the passion expressed through the intense singing; and especially the dramatic scene where the liberated slave has the chance to exact revenge on the English mercenary, but relents due to the bond of humanity which ties the two protagonists together. 

 

The history of the working class deserves to be told through the medium of culture, and I applaud the people behind King Cotton for their commitment in making this happen. If I have one criticism of the play, it comes in the scene where Sekoto and Tom come face to face. Tom desperately pleads with the vengeful former slave that his exploitation by the mill owner was in essence the same as Sekoto’s predicament. Whilst socialists use the argument that capitalism represents the systematic enslavement of the working class, the treatment of the slaves on a human scale was of a different order altogether. Maybe the script could have recognised this? And is McGovern too charitable to Lincoln and the Northern industrialists in portraying them as opposed to slavery on the grounds of its basic inhumanity. Was there not also an element of self-interest in recognising that the rapidly developing manufacturing industry in the Northern states required skilled labour to sustain it, which could not be supplied by force as it could in the agricultural industry in the South? Was the American Civil War really about the transition from the most brutal form of slavery – based on racial domination – to a less vicious kind based on class?

 

I readily forgive the director for failing to deal with the politics in such depth – it would be churlish to complain when the cast includes the Marxist putative shop steward, who goes from zero to hero as the story unfolds and Tom admits his error! I really should seek out McGovern’s book for the finer points.

 

Ian Brownbill is apparently working on a new production based on cultural and musical diversity in Oldham. I suspect that production may not be on such a grand scale as King Cotton, but on this evidence it’s worth waiting for.

 

Martin Gleeson