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Beyond Hillsborough: Edinburgh Festival play NOW COMING TO LIVERPOOL

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۩ Imperator ۩:
I have just got home from the first public preview performance of Beyond Hillsborough at the school where I am a teacher. It is a dramatisation of how the lives of various families and other interested parties has been indelibly marked by the Hillsborough tragedy. The play was written by two drama teachers at the school, Jo Halliday and Layla Dowie, and is based on many hours of interviews done with (amongst others) Stephen Kelly, Jenni Hicks, Sheila Coleman, Kenny and Wendy Derbyshire, Jimmy McGovern, Neil Sampson, Brian Reade, Rogan Taylor, Steve Rotheram and Rob White. Many of these interviewees were also present tonight for the premiere.

I have to confess, when I heard about the endeavour, I was a little worried. I wondered whether a bunch of teenagers (mostly 6th formers) would be able to deal appropriately with the content of the interviews and represent the issues accurately and with the proper sensitivity.

I have left the school this evening absolutely knocked for six. The play was remarkable, and all the more so for the fact that it was performed by young amateur actors, so young they were not alive at the time of the disaster. They performed the roles of the real family members and other interested parties with real sensitivity, emotion, humour and heartbreak. Joe Davies' portrayal of Stephen Kelly in particular was absolutely breathtaking, and Rachel Jones (yes, a girl!) playing Rogan Taylor was brilliant and very funny.

It was certainly not a piece that shied away from some difficult issues, and one of the areas explored was the divisions between the three campaign groups, as well as the personal stories of the bereaved. It was a remarkable piece of theatre, and very professionally produced.

The teenagers involved have been raising money for some months to take the show to the Edinburgh Festival, and managed to reach the £16k total they needed to put the play on in the Scottish capital and bring the issues to a wider audience - the Edinburgh Festival is, as we know, an international event. It will play from August 6-11 at 11.40am at Venue 40 (Quaker Meeting House, 7 Victoria Terrace), and I would encourage anyone who lives in central Scotland or who is visiting the Festival to make the effort and go and see the play (which lasts an hour). The tickets are £8/£5 concessions.

http://www.edfringe.com/whats-on/theatre/beyond-hillsborough?day=06-08-2012&performance=1:3137

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/edinburgh-fringe-festival-looks-beyond-the-tragedy-of-hillsborough-1-2237999

MichaelA:
Spotted this when the Fringe guide came out. Baby due next Friday otherwise I would have booked this weeks ago. Hope it goes well for your colleagues.  :wave

kemlyn1974:
I'm going to the festival but sadly after their run is finished according to the dates . Gutted. I wish the company well and hopefuly I'll get to see their work another time. How reassuring it is to know that young people who were not even with us at the time of Hillsborough can understand and then represent in their own way the realities of the disaster. Tradition , culture, pride , dignity, respect - it's stiil there, just harder than ever to see sometimes.

blurred:
Shame we're not up there till later in the month for the Fringe. Good luck to them with it, though

kavah:
Thanks for the review, it does sound like a remarkable piece of work. Thanks for posting

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