Review: Living at Playhouse Sheffield

“…theatrical magic…”

Living by Leo Butler, Playhouse Sheffield

By Phil Scown

The set of Living is striking for two things. Firstly, there’s the floor-to-ceiling height.  Secondly, everything is made of large sheets of unpainted builders’ board made from chunks of wood arranged like an oversize random jigsaw, waiting for the picture to be painted on. The walls, floor, sofa, sideboard and TV, are all made from the same builders’ board. It feels like a metaphor – for the random nature of life, living. The set, though striking, does present a problem. Some softening, maybe carpet and curtains, would be helpful, as all the wood cladding is not good for the acoustics.

Living starts with a broadcast of the moon landing, 21st July 1969. One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind. The date is projected onto the set. An elderly woman listens to the broadcast before shuffling off, leaving the house vacant. The date shifts, and a young couple move in, Brian (Kenny Doughty) and Kathy (Liz White) his pregnant wife. We’re in Pitsmoor, Sheffield.

The life of Kathy and Brian is marked by more projected dates, dates linked to events going on in the wider world. Some of these events are discussed, presented, on television, but not always. On these dates though, the family is always living. There are births, marriages and deaths. The things that happen in families, to families.  Living is fast-paced. There is music that some of the audience will recognise as ‘a blast from the past’ – love it or loathe it. The kids, Mike and Rebecca, love it, as do their friends, listening to it at volume as they dance around the house. Brian starts as a socialist, mostly in theory, from his place on the dole, cashing his giro. He does get work, but retains his values in the face of the government and society’s anti-union stance. Kathy lives her socialism through her work as a nurse, putting in the shifts to keep the family afloat. In writing this play, Leo Butler has managed to use very specific historical and family events to convey universal truths. Set in a specific part of Sheffield, it will hold true for almost anywhere in Great Britain – and the world beyond.

The family, Kathy and Brian, their children Rebecca (Abby Vicky-Russell) and Mike (Samuel Creasey) represent every working-class man and woman. Despite their differences and arguments, they get along, for the most part. Family friends, the wider family and tradespeople, are played by Harki Bhambra, Andrew Macklin, Melina Sinadinou, and Michelle Bonnard. The skills of the actors, the director (Abigail Graham) and costume designer (Sarah Beaton) prevent this from confusing the audience. In other plays, I have sometimes been confused by actors with two roles that are insufficiently differentiated. I didn’t get this at all in Living. That is remarkable given the rapid pace of change required at some points in the action – a piece of theatrical mastery. Full marks to the costume department for enabling the cast to make quick changes, thus allowing smooth transitions between dates and events.

Clever directing, and skilful acting, means that the audience’s attention is shifted around conversations simultaneously taking place on stage. There’s a fade that makes the transition natural. Lighting (Matt Haskins) shows us the dates, but also conveys moods and internal states of characters. This really adds to our understanding of how the characters feel at key points.

The cast perform 30 roles between them, over 55 years.  Kathy is central throughout, barely off-stage. Her transformation from youthful mum-to-be into pensioner is an example of the mystery of theatre, a masterpiece of acting. The children, Rebecca and Mike, shift from being parent-reliant toddlers to adults,  also convincing, and adding comic moments. 

This isn’t a mystery, with a crime to be solved within the play’s plot. It is about what it is to be living, to have lived, in Britain, over the last half-century. The external events, and nostalgic references, will mean little to a younger audience, except as stories and memories that their parents and grandparents share. Events in the bigger world form a backdrop to life, the things that happened around families between 1969 and 2024. Some events had obvious direct effects, but the family lives through them, doing what families do. There are rivalries within families, but everyone loves each other despite these frictions.

The later years of act two are at a slower pace than act one – art imitating life. Liz White’s transformation playing Kathy is stunning to watch as the story comes full circle. Even without the first three quarters of the play, the closing scenes are mesmerising. This is a long play, but it doesn’t seem so. Living shows the dynamic, colourful, nature of family. It also puts it under a microscope, showing family life with details most of us can recognise, even if our families are different. What we see is daily life turned into theatrical magic.

Living plays at Playhouse Sheffield until Saturday 04 April. Tickets are available here.

Phil Scown has been a regular theatre-goer since his student days many years ago. Mysteries, thrillers, ghost stories, comedies and musicals are all part of his theatre diet. Phil writes short stories in a variety of genres, some of which have become screenplays. He likes to tour England, Scotland and France, nowadays by car rather than motorcycle. At other times Phil likes to cook and to drive his Caterham, though generally not at the same time.