Bear with me, normal whinging and observations on the absurdities of life (and my family) will resume shortly but for now here's a review from LOST BOY RACER, a partnership production with West Yorkshire's beautiful, amazing number one arts venue...drum roll.....the Lawrence Batley Theatre (oh, and also my employer!).
Apparently there are some biker chaps heading to Yorkshire next week.....have you heard anything about it?!
LOST BOY RACER
Lost Boy Racer is a theatrical foray into the world of cycling-obsession and ties in nicely with upcoming phenomenon of the Tour de France getting underway on Yorkshire soil.
Suiting its billing as a comedy-drama, the production has moments of frivolity, poignancy and downright darkness with a hooded BMX-er dancing with a bike to a sombre soundtrack.
Sean Racer has 'unfinished business' with a childhood spent on two wheels and the tale of a schoolboy race which ended in a broken friendship threads through the performance.
We meet Sean as a lonely fish-and-chips -scoffing tax inspector whose encounter with dodgy-dealing hairdresser Linda-Marie inspires him to get back in the saddle and compete in Le Tour.....in his garden shed.
There are notable performances from Thomas Aldersley as Sean and Robin Simpson as Claude, his bike tinkering / ex-pro mechanic friend whose every line is a clever metaphor to reflect his belief that cycling lives in the heart, soul and even sentences, of those who love the sport.
The cast move around a giant sculpture cannily crafted from bike bits, the creation of Tim Tolkien (yes, a distant relative of J.R.R himself).
The performance, although punctured with the odd opening night teething problem, was an excellent showcase of new writing emerging from Yorkshire and specifically the pen of Julie Bokowiec.
With fast-flowing direction from Liz Postlethwaite (yes, another distant relative of the one-and-only late Pete) there's never a dull moment during the hour and half ride through the themes of love lost and found, the hardships of self-employment, thwarted dreams and the extremes of human emotion from despair to elation.
It's gritty and real apart from perhaps the slightly unbelievable hair salon sideline in motor oil which gets even less believably mistaken for shampoo. The oil is illegally procured from next door, syphoned off a chip shop fryer which eventually goes up in flames, freeing the owner from her shackles to jump on a bicycle made for two and head into the sunset, sorry Scunthorpe, with Claude.
One highlight, ticking the publicised 'off-the-wall' box, is the supporting cast of community volunteers, donned in a heady mix of colourful costume ensembles from onesies to tutus, as the road-side crowds cheering Sean on reaches the end of the road.
Accompanying the pounding music of Mark Bokowiec (yes, the husband), the cast throw some excellent shapes, literally, and create some visually stunning freeze frames.
A partnership production with the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Lost Boy Racer is heading from Huddersfield to The Lowry in Manchester and then on to Harrogate and Wakefield in early July.
If you missed the show in Huddersfield, you can still call into the Lawrence Batley Theatre for some cycling-themed art and check out their tactile exhibition of crocheted and knitted bikes in the theatre's foyer, yes really, life size cycles make of wool!
