Re:Play Festival 2011 – The Crypt Project : New Depths – The Lowry, Salford

Writer: Happystorm Theatre

Director: Sarah Meadows

Reviewer: Tracey Lowe

The Public Reviews Rating:

Following its successful, but all too brief, run at Crypt of St Philip with St Stephen in Salford earlier this year, The Crypt Project finds new life as part of the Re:Play Festival. The concept alone is enough of an audience draw, offering a rare opportunity to explore the bowels of the Lowry Theatre. The setting is perfect, as the claustrophobic, disorientating catacombs reflect the nature of the script, which deals with such issues as self-harm, abuse and mental illness.

The audience is split into small groups and given a hard hat, before being led into the performance space. It is almost immediately established how unsettling this piece will be, with actors walking amongst the audience, almost encircling them. We delve into the lives of Daniel, a young man with mental health problems (Matthew Ganley); Frances, an academic trying to battle her own demons(Susi Wrenshaw); Jeanette (Denise Kennedy), a deceptively strong business woman; and her father, William (Ian Curley). Each scene seamlessly runs into the next, and the audience is never left hanging around waiting for the action to continue.

The story of each of the characters is very compelling. Susi Wrensaw and Matthew Ganley have some wonderful scenes together as Frances and Daniel, and Frances’ final monologue is genuinely heart-breaking. But the real star of this show is the sheer fluidity and slickness of the performance. I can’t even begin to fathom how they pulled it off; the level of planning involved must be astronomical.

This is an utterly engrossing piece of theatre in an extraordinary space. The audience covers quite a lot of ground walking from one place to another, but the play is so engaging no one really notices. I have seen pieces of promenade theatre where the constant movement can be a hindrance, but it was certainly not an issue here. Happystorm Theatre have created something fresh, challenging and entertaining that needs to be seen.