Three centuries, two women, one city and one shared hope
As the latest offering from the Royal Exchange’s 50th anniversary celebrations, we’re treated to the world premiere of Even These Things. This production brings together a cast of more than 100 community members. It offers up a resounding sense of local pride and Mancunian comedy stylings, with a side-dish of thought-provoking historical perspective.
Commissioned to honour both 50 years of the Exchange, and the 30th anniversary of the infamous IRA bombings on Corporation Street, Rory Mullarkey’s script tackles the intertwined experience of being both Manc and Irish over the past 200 years.
The opening act plants us firmly in 1846. With Annie Donovan (Elaine Cassidy) as our guide, we are entirely transported. An unwashed Victorian matchstick seller, Annie commands the stage like a gladiator in the Colosseum. Cassidy is astounding in her energetic narrative, barely pausing for breath or standing still through 15 pages of descriptive text.
This dynamic monologue brings to life the squalid conditions facing immigrants who sought new opportunities in the world’s first industrial city. Through Cassidy’s visceral depiction, we can see and hear crowded streets, dank cellars, and rowdy public houses vividly. Sandwiched between her humanity and humour, we’re faced with the uncomfortable truth that Manchester hasn’t always been the celebrated home of “doing things differently”.
The second act shifts dramatically in style, but retains the caustic sense of humour that weaves through Annie Donovan’s opening act. We flip from a one-woman play to a hundred people in and out of the theatre module.
The stage directions specify this segment to be “a kind of procession, or conveyor belt”. 44 scenes with little to no speech at all, narrated in detail through the poetic, comedic and often sentimental stage directions. This is Mullarkey’s undeniable celebration of community, place, and a shared love of this city. The scripted stage directions observe every familiar character on Manchester’s streets and every iconic institution in the vicinity. A rather literal interpretation of the Royal Exchange’s “homecoming” theme, this production is an endless loop of familiar references and oddly satisfying “ooh, I’ve been there” and “ahh, I know him” moments.
This act is where director James Macdonald’s mastery comes into its own. The staging is tirelessly playful. Unnamed characters enter on spinning furniture, alongside floating scenery, and robotic castmates. We’re raised to helicopter heights courtesy of toy cars, and iconic Manchester statues come to life with exactly the characterisation we’ve all imagined when walking past. But there’s a lingering ominous air…
In her capacity as this act’s narrator, Katherine Pearce’s cadence allows us at once to anticipate and to be entirely shocked by the action of June 15th 1996. The vibrant atmosphere in the theatre makes the climax all the more moving.
And, with that, we’re blasted into the final act, which “most resembles a conventional play”. It rounds off the evening’s celebration of theatrical history: from declamatory classics, to the creatively cinematic visuals of the 1990s stage. Here we reach contemporary theatre, centred on a microcosmic depiction of universal emotion. The script’s gentle humour weaves together these otherwise disparate acts.
In this final scene, the two principal actors tie together each story that we’ve encountered thus far. Cassidy is reborn as Kaz, a hard-earned evolution into a modern artist. Whilst Pearce’s character, Jenny, trends an opposite trajectory, feeling utterly placeless. Through this bluntly honest dialogue, these relative strangers navigate their identities in relation to a location, reflecting the experience of countless onlookers.
Despite an overriding sense of positivity and joy in the production, the playwright casts a shadow of quiet loss. This play deftly approaches the paradox of feeling a loss that never really was. Amongst the noise of the endless enthusiastic audience is the echo of a bomb that lingers with no death toll.
Even These Things is at once an insight into untold histories, a political discussion on what it means to be “from” somewhere, and an undeniably affectionate love letter to the city of Manchester. I found it to be funny, poignant, educational, imaginative, ambitious and celebratory; a certainly memorable combination!
Undeniably, this production is a huge undertaking: for the two primary actors, who must recite Shakespearean levels of text, and for the enormous cast and crew who are tasked with creating an entire cityscape. In taking on this new piece of theatre, the creative team inspire an electric atmosphere in the room. Every audience member cheers and claps throughout, and undeniably finds a small reflection of themselves somewhere within the multitude of stories.
Even These Things runs until 15th June. For tickets and more information, visit www.royalexchange.co.uk.
Or explore our library of Manchester theatre reviews from the iconic Royal Exchange archives.
