Living
Playhouse, Sheffield
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

ANOTHER world premier hits Sheffield with this “state-of-the-nation-drama” from award-winning local playwright, Leo Butler, who grew up in the area where the play is set.

While Living shares common traits with the “kitchen sink” realism of the late 1950s and early 1960s, it is more of an epic multigenerational chronicle that uses the intimate lens of one working-class family to explore 55 years of British social and political history.   

The action takes place in a single living room in Burngreave Road, Pitsmoor, a suburb of Sheffield, and follows the young couple Kathy and Brian moving into their new home with two kids on the way, and spending their lives together trying to keep their home and family intact, while navigating the winds of social and political change.

As the drama progresses, the personal struggles of raising children, juggling the family finances and holding relationships together, while working all hours to make ends meet, intersect with major political shifts from Thatcherism, through Blairism, to Trump. What keeps them going? How do they cope? Why try to beat the system? As Kathy puts it: “Grow up wantin’ to change the world. Spend yer 20s n’ 30s in a daze. 50 turns to 60 n’yer suddenly fightin’ the urge not to kill everyone.”        
                                                                        
Liz White gives a powerful and stellar performance as Kathy, and commands the stage for most of the time as she goes from being a struggling working mother and wife to a grieving widow who finds love again, yet ends up with dementia as her dysfunctional family comes together and the house is sold to a young couple.

In this she is perfectly complemented by the energetic and dynamic Kenny Doughty as Brian in a whirlwind first half, who only makes a brief appearance in a rather subdued second half before dying from cancer.  

The cast of eight perform over 30 roles, embodying numerous characters, with the multitalented Andrew Macklin playing the rather boisterous Sean and other parts, while Samuel Creasey as the disaffected son Mark, and Abby Vicky-Russell as an activist lesbian daughter, take strong leads.

Despite the moments of heartbreak there is humour, resilience and hope, as we ride the emotional roller-coaster between laughter, anger and tears, recognising that this can be too close for comfort. It is a profoundly human portrait of resolute love and a celebration of working-class people negotiating the cycle of capitalist crises as they impact on family life.

For those of us who have lived through this period there is much with which we can identify as we are drawn into this immersive drama and watch our lives flash before our eyes. Yet it also reflects the struggles of today’s working class families, living through crises ranging from the cost of living and energy price hikes, to climate change and the shadow of war. 

A case of déjà vu perhaps?    

Runs at the Playhouse until April 4. Box Office: (0114) 249 6000, sheffieldtheatres.co.uk