Behind The Label
****
Thurs 13 Dec, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Carol singers. An ethereal spotlight. A Christmas tree. Surely, ‘tis the season to be jolly? Tra la la la la la la la la… But wait…this latest offering by Theatre Versus Oppression in conjunction with Wales Millennium Centre and The Wallich has a different story to tell. Behind The Label is no festive celebration of happy families, turkey dinners and gifts under the tree. No, this is a play about the harsher realities of life. Of rape. Child abuse. Neglect. Homelessness. Prison. Drugs. Prostitution. An odd, twisted nativity, the angels here are all too human, soiled and battered by personal and social tragedy… even the Christmas tree is made up of empty beer cans. Still, it’s not entirely without hope.
Set in the middle of Splott’s ‘Magic Roundabout’, Cardiff’s most iconic road structure known for its various whacky road-sign constructions, the action flits between the stage, a large screen and a carol quartet situated on the periphery. From time to time, the carollers burst into festive song, their lyrics turning morbidly dark as tent-dwellers insist they “Shut the fuck up!”. It’s fair to say the term ‘fun for all the family’ doesn’t apply here. ‘It’s not for the delicate’ caution the show’s director Jenifer Hartley and the Wallich’s CEO, Lindsay Cordery-Bruce. Rather, its whole purpose is to give a ‘megaphone’ to those whose voices usually go unheard. In a city where there’s been three deaths within the homeless community this past week, it couldn’t be timelier either.
Apart from one actor, the production’s participants are volunteers there to tell their personal stories of tragedy, survival, and ultimately, hope. And tell them they do – unadorned, and unfiltered, their no-holds-barred approach occasionally offensive and genuinely jaw-dropping. The show’s setting serves as a useful metaphor too – one of the city’s hotspots for crime and prostitution, it’s also a depiction of lives going round in circles, an eternal symbol of recovery followed by relapse.
At one point, in a pre-recorded video, participants talk of the names and labels they’ve been given by society and those who should have loved them whilst support workers counteract with positive affirmations. ‘Slag’. ‘Pisshead’. ‘Thick’ – ‘Intelligent’. ‘Articulate’. ‘A pleasure to work with!’. Such positives are warmly welcomed, lest the audience too become numbed and overcome by ceaseless despair. There’s even one particular scene that’s eye-wateringly funny – a parody of Eminem’s song Stan. Writing a foul-mouthed letter to Santa, and the latter returning fire, the music video is surprisingly well made and has the audience in stitches.
At the show’s close, amidst a re-enactment and subversion of the nativity, our interconnectivity is poignantly signified whilst participants also tell of discovering new directions for their lives and hopes of a better future. Hell succumbs to heaven, and the words of a little-known Franciscan come to mind: ‘If we don’t transform our pain, we’ll most assuredly transmit it’. Behind The Label affords its participants just that – a chance to tell their story, and to use it for good!
words Oliver R. Moore-Howells
Info: www.wmc.org.uk