Life's a Gatecrash (Greater Manchester Fringe Festival)

Life’s a Gatecrash, Terry Hughes’ disturbing study of masculine insecurity, hypocrisy and the politics of intimidation becomes a visceral and wholly compelling part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.

Steve (Eddie Capli) and Nicola (Josie Walsh) frantically discuss their options after committing a hit and run that left a man likely dead in the road. Steve’s efforts to rationalise his actions and brutalise Nicola into acquiescence are interrupted by the unexpected appearance of the savage Phil (Paddy Byrne) who brings irrefutable and surprising evidence of the accident.

Life’s a Gatecrash is unusual in depicting violence in a way that is neither sensational nor overbearing. Too often, in an effort to condemn aggression, writers go over the top and bludgeon the audience with shocking scenes that generate numb inertia. Hughes appreciates that a hand squeezing a throat can more upsetting than prolonged fight scenes. Strangely, for a play full of truly nasty brutality, there is a feeling of control – directing the action for maximum impact.

Director Andy Pope delivers a production that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and just won’t let go. The opening sequence is a perfect replication of the jittery adrenaline filled aftermath of an accident with Capli and Walsh pacing the stage snarling at each other like caged beasts. The commitment of the cast is apparent in stunts that send them crashing to the floor with an impact that must surely bruise.

The cast ARE excellent in their portrayal of Hughes’ deeply disturbed and distasteful characters. Capli fearlessly avoids giving Steve any redeeming qualities. He offers a nasty, petty bully that you just long to see get his comeuppance. By contrast Paddy Byrne portrays Phil as a primeval creature whose violence is almost pure in its simple sense of retribution. In less skilled hands Phil could become an exaggerated caricature and it is impressive that Byrne keeps him frightening rather than funny. Walsh is a very moving reminder of the effects of casual violence with a fixed nervous smile and tight flinching movements as if always braced to shield against a blow. The sinister edge that Lewis March brings to the twitchy and creepy Sid is enough to convince that the character was probably damaged even before the trauma he suffered.

Showing violence on stage is never easy but this new version of Life’s a Gatecrash gets the balance harrowingly right.