Reviews

Inheritance (Tour – Newcastle)

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10 November 2010

Social realism and a desire to be a better person all eminate from an Inheritance by Mike Packer, which premieres at Live Theatre. But while becoming the better person, do we lose sight of the true values that bind us together. All these questions and more are pondered in the two hours of the play.

Harry, played with pathos and style by David Hargreaves, delivers verse and prose and a pride in a way of life that we will never see again, his two boys; Frank (Mathew Hill) and Terry (Steven Hillman) try to make their way in life, and seem to fail at every hurdle, the odds seem stacked against them. Their long suffering wives, Susan (Martina Laird) and Los (Melanie Hill) hold the lives of the family together.

There are funny moments in the play, although, rather like the work of Jim Cartwright, the realism and the political message are at times so strong you forget to laugh; unless of course that was just me?

A wonderful evening at Live Theatre; although in the new and plush surroundings that they now in habit, I couldn’t help but think the themes in the play are about people and areas in our city that will never recover from the global downturn.