The English pub is the perfect crucible for Dash Arts’ latest piece inspired by community workshops from creator and director Josephine Burton.
A storm is blowing into the town where the Albion pub sits, both meteorological and political. Inside the rundown establishment, Sanjana is a landlady who is on her last legs and ready to throw in the bar towel. Her husband has died and her loving teacher daughter only returns occasionally these days. That the pub is given the ancient name for Britain is no coincidence – a lot of research has gone into this, not least the workshops around the country attended by more than 700 people, whose conversations were shaped by Barney Norris into the script and by Jonathan Walton into songs.
Nor is it a coincidence that the landlady of the Albion is British Asian; the rise of the far right is the background to all political conversations in Britain today and racial tension is one of the themes this play explores.
We arrive in Albion on the night of a storm flooding the roads and cutting off Labour MP candidate Mary Parker (Gabriela Leon) and political adviser Tom (Kit Esuruoso). In a recent election in this town, the largest share of votes was for spoiled ballots and the turnout was vanishingly small. We witness the earthquake’s aftershocks. Sanjana (an epic performance from Bharti Patel) is the Prospero-like figure in the storm around Albion. She runs classes in making political speeches and two of the town’s lost souls have found refuge and their voices thanks to the regular gatherings.
None of the songs are toe-tappers, and they are performed with only passing musicality by the cast.
In the second half, local actors join the main cast on stage as a community ensemble and two of their number make impassioned speeches about subjects that matters to them – the lack of green space and the absence of male mentors in Leeds.
As a piece of theatre, it falls between two (bar) stools, with the community cast not quite integrated enough, yet interrupting the sense of the world that’s already been created by the main cast. It makes the whole thing feel worthy, which is important, but somewhat undermines the drama of the piece.
• At Leeds Playhouse until 23 May
