Taking a good hard look at the current political landscape, Sleepwalkers from Think Twice Theatre and playing the Fringe at The Space on The Mile, draws comparisons between the past and where we are headed in the future.
Split in to two semi-converging stories, the first is set in 1929 Germany and looks at the struggling family bakery run by Marta and her sister, Greta. They are helped by Moritz, who is disillusioned with the fate that has befallen his country after defeat in the war.
The second story is set in 2020 England, Brexit has been a disaster and Nathan is struggling to keep his small café and its one employee, Jade, in business. As Russian jets fly overheard he begs Amy, a foreign-born cash and carry owner, for help. Like Moritz, he finds the rhetoric of a new political party appealing, The English Workers Party is like a post-Brexit UKIP, stirring up anti-immigrant sentiment.
Flora Thomson, Cara Withers and Alex Britt each play two roles, one in each story, and they do an excellent job of keeping each character distinct, through use of costumes and subtle language differences. There’s great use of dance throughout, the characters enjoy dancing and certain messages are conveyed through well-defined movements rather than dialogue.
Sleepwalkers is political without being overbearing and it doesn’t push political views in the way it’s characters do. It can become a little difficult to keep track of what’s happening as the two stories become more and more aligned, especially as it becomes more fast paced, but in the main you can keep up.
This is a very engaging piece of drama, which explores a scenario that we can all be so familiar with, but are literally sleepwalking towards, and definitely leaves you with a lot to think about. Like Moritz’s beloved jazz music Sleepwalkers can appear a little chaotic, but comes together to make something beautiful.
Sleepwalkers is a slick, evocative and thought provoking play . It asks questions – the answers of which – brings the past and future symmetrically together. The politics are there for you to see and you do with clarity and understanding of where the title of the play is leading .
The actors are superb and handle the character and time changes with great skill .
I enjoyed every minute of Sleepwalkers and highly recommend it.
A great show