UK Theatre Network

Cheap Seats was founded by Alistair McDowall and Lucy Oliver-Harrison in 2004 and is a company dedicated to new writing and on finding new ways to engage with the audience. Some Stories is stepping away from conventional theatre spaces and embarking on a collaborative process which is meant to immerse the audience.

At the box office the audience is divided up into two groups – A and B. Each group is then taken to their first room which is approximately the size of a small living room. There is a very intimate atmosphere as the audience is seated close to the actor who then tells his or her story. All four stories are connected by the common thread of children, loneliness, and death.

I was part of group A and our first play turned out to be Lily on the Stairs directed by Oliver Lyttelton: Lily Graham (Audrey Schoellhammer) is calling neighbours, friends and organisations – anybody - only to leave messages on their respective answering machines. She never manages to talk to a person and nobody ever seems to return her calls. But Lily desperately needs someone to talk to.

Blue Rabbits, directed by Ned Bennett, is the title of a story that a lonely girl thinks up.  As a „slow learner“ Andy (the excellent Flora Spencer-Longhurst) is never invited to any parties, her school mates just mock her. Therefore, Andy has been making up stories instead of friends. Eventually, she is invited to a party – Mike’s birthday party. Andy carefully prepares her outing – her father would never allow it – but when she knocks on the door none of the other guests have yet arrived. 

In sophie is sophie, directed by Elizabeth Sands, Sophie (Rachel Finnegan) is talking to an invisible guest, a little girl. Sophie used to have a twin brother, Edward, who suffered a fatal accident when he was ten years old. Her mother completely withdraws from the world after Edward’s death as he had always been her favourite thereby leaving Sophie to fend for herself which she obviously cannot do at such a young age. At last Sophie gathers up the courage to approach her mother.  

White Blood Cells was the last play I saw and the most disturbing one. A man with a bandaged hand (Mark Weinman) tells us the story of how he received his injury. He used to enjoy driving to places where no one had ever seen him before. The reason becomes clear as the story progresses and the protagonist breaks into a house. He has a nice meal, stealing his food from the refrigerator, and then even prepares a sandwich for the owner’s little boy whom he tells that he is a friend of his father’s.

All four stories are fascinating and deeply disturbing and the acting is first rate. This is a production well worth seeing.    

Blacks Members’ Club, 67 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 4QH
13th June at 6pm & 8.30pm
Tickets: £5