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Synopsis In the midst of the Hull Prison riot of 1976 Singe and Yebsley declare the roof of 'A-wing' to be for 'Hull Kids only', and set about enjoying the sunshine, chucking sweets to the kids in Southgates Lane, and making money. Singe, the ‘A-wing bookie, has the only television that s not been trashed, there s a full card at Haydock, and Declan and those Irish boys like to gamble. But Singe s runner, Yebsley, can t concentrate on his work because he s fallen in love with a girl in Newtown Court Flats, and has to hide from ‘Mad Hatchet Jack who has a score to settle, and an axe with which to settle it. This fictional account of the Hull Prison Riot takes us 'up on roof' and into the comic and tragic lives of the Hull men doing bird alongside the 'Category A' prisoners of the IRA, the Richardson gang, and the Angry Brigade
Award-winning playwright Richard Bean, in his first home-town premiere, takes full advantage of his Hull background. As he notes himself, he can “tap into all the Hull stories people here will appreciate”, but which would make less sense to a London audience.
This can be a bit parochial, as the presence of a stranger lets the local characters point out the streets visible from the roof of Hull Prison, the A-to-Z as drama. But generally, despite the occasional uneasy clash of tone, Up on Roof successfully blends the accessible populist comedy of much of Hull Truck’s programme with something grittier and more surreal.
The grit is supplied by the 1976 riot in Hull Prison when barricades were erected, fires started and prisoners on the roof made contact with the media to publicise their grievances. In Bean’s fictional take on the events, the only thing publicised on Singe’s section of roof is the fact that he is taking no part in the riot: he is in no mood to jeopardise his imminent early release.
Unfortunately Singe has to cope with the unpredictable behaviour of his psychologically damaged side-kick Yebsley and the rather more predictable threat of Mad Hatchet Jack to whom he owes £50, plus making sense of the actions of Declan, a voluble IRA man with crazy schemes for escape, and the mysterious newcomer Christopher.
Despite the difficulty in deciding how seriously to take these characters, the invention and fantasy of the writing and the timing and conviction of the performances hold things together. Chris Connel is something of a parody of a mad axe-man, but his wild riffs on subjects from God to elephants are inspired creations. Michael Glenn Murphy, the IRA man in love with the humour of his own evil, can get away with a litany of crimes ranging from six murders to having the wrong television licence. James Weaver, as Christopher, does well in a near-impossible part, though his other-worldliness never quite convinces.
With the help of touching performances from Matt Sutton (Yebsley) and Rachel Helen (the girl in the flats next to the prison), Martin Barrass, excellent as Singe, gives the production its humanity: his near-final scene, alone on the roof in the rain, has a wordless power that legitimises the rather freakish ending that follows.
Gareth Tudor Price directs with great sensitivity to the play’s shifts of tone, accommodating the bizarre and the understated, and designer Richard Foxton’s prison roof is appropriately substantial, if somewhat battered.
Hull Truck have scored a bulls-eye in commissioning Hull-born Richard Bean (recently gaining huge acclaim with "Harvest" at the Royal Court) to write a play set in the city. The result is the superb "Up On Roof", a fictional story set against the actual Hull Prison Riots of 1976.
A terrific amount of humour, some of it local based (after the previous play here "A Kick Up The Baubles", Grimsby residents have a right to feel aggrevied!) surrounds a touching and intricate story of two of the inmates, trying to avoid the consequences of the riots.
Martin Barrass and Matt Sutton are simply superb as these two central characters, moving through a range of emotions with ease, faultless timing, and total conviction.
They are given excellent support from Chris Connel, Rachel Helen, James Weaver, and Michael Glenn Murphy - although a couple of these parts are sketchily written.
The play is beautifully paced, and although I did guess the denouement, it was only by a matter of minutes! Best of all it is not a play that attempted to tie up all the loose threads, leaving the audience to take their speculation home with them.
A triumph! - 84.65.140.18)
Hull Truck will close the Spring Street building in February 2009 and open its new state-of-the-art, £14.5m theatre April 25 2009. The new theatre will offer two performance spaces and improved facilities for education and community work, and corporate hospitality. The Main auditorium seats 440 and the studio 134.
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