DV8 Physical Theatre arrived to the National as part of their global tour and Entry Pass reviewers joined the professional critics to review their latest work, ‘To Be Straight With You’. Read what they had to say…

‘To Be Straight With You’ gets straight to the heart of the precarious relationship between homosexuality, religion and place. DV8 have delivered a masterful piece of verbatim theatre, which is informative and thought provoking in its subject matter, and astonishing in its physical and visual aspects.

Artistic director Lloyd Newson’s inspiration for the piece was his experience of walking down Brixton Road hand in hand with his male partner on a Gay Pride March and receiving hordes of abuse. Newson could not find a script or a suitable writer for his vision and therefore the use of verbatim theatre emerged. All of the words spoken in the play are taken from interviews and ‘vox pops’ with people such as such as Peter Tatchell and a Rastafarian, and though this eliminates a narrative, what emerges are episodic personal experiences that are touching and harrowing.

We not only hear but also see the stories and views of people, and this combination is certainly what makes the production so captivating. The stories are portrayed through the use of movement, with emotive gestures being extended to create dance sequences. On top of this the actors speak the words of their story. Actor Ankur Bahl deserves a special mention for his two unforgettable character portrayals. Firstly he plays an Asian boy from Hull, meticulously delivering his story of coming out as gay whilst performing unbelievable tricks with a skipping rope. He then performs an intricate classical Indian dance to the not-so-traditional Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’. The delightful charm manifested in indeed many of the different stories serves in making the culmination of each all the more powerful.

This is political theatre, but we are not preached at. The extraordinary talent of the cast, the mesmerising visual effects and the scrupulously handled subject matter grip you, only releasing you after the 80 minute performance has ended. Even then you will be left with a ringing sense of outrage in your stomach, along with a burning marvel at what you have just witnessed. One not to be missed.

Sita Thomas

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I went into the Theatre not really knowing what to expect, I had heard that DV8 are renowned for their physical theatre and how they challenge the audience and really push the boundaries. This play was much different to anything DV8 has ever done before.

‘To Be Straight With You’ was created by getting 85 people to discuss their viewpoint on homosexuality. Every word in the production was taken from these interviews, this meant the play was documentary in style and the main focus was the voice, something I know DV8 have not used voice in such a way in their pieces before, their main focus usually being the body and physical elements. Watching the performance I really started to understand the power of voice and how people can use it to explain their viewpoint and how what they say can change their life forever.

Technically, this was the best production I have seen at the National. The use of projection was phenomenal; I spent a lot of the time just sat with my mouth open gobsmacked! There is a scene near the beginning where a member of the cast was stood in the middle of a projected globe. He span the world around and the projection moved, he coloured in sections of countries and labelled where the seven different countries in the world where there is a death penalty for being a homosexual are. The precision movement required from the cast was 100% accurate to make the projections work so well with the piece.

The use of the voices; sometimes the actors speaking onstage and sometimes recorded voices were all different between the different characters and actors and really gave a feeling that these are coming from real people and they are what real people think and believe. Through the use of accents and different ways of using the voice it was clear you could hear different people’s views. Possibly the only criticism of the piece was that at the very beginning it was very hard to tune in to the voice of the character playing as Rasta as his accent was very strong and it took me a long time to really understand exactly what he was saying.

The best section of the piece for me was Ankur Bahl’s skipping scene, a high energy performance and such a brilliant concept. Ankur Bahl’s character is a son of Islamic parents and he tells his father that he is ‘a Batty-boy’. Whilst all this is happening Bahl is skipping very fast around the stage. He stops skipping and he runs around the stage whilst telling us that his father chases him around the house. The style of the performance on a whole was a real mix of the documentary-style and real life issues that came from the voices and interviews coupled with the abstract physical theatre elements that really show off DV8 at their very best.

One of the things I really loved was the symbolism used. There was never really any violent scenes at all they were all symbolised for example there is a moment where one of the two female actresses in the piece told about how her friend was taken away by some men and was abused with a beer bottle. Whilst she tells us about this a man is stood behind her leaning on a wall drinking a bottle of beer.
This was a very tough issue to discuss but it really made me and most of the audience around me think about the issues of homosexuality and what gay people can face all the time. The use of sound, lighting, projections, voices, music and even chalk are all at the highest possible standard. This is one of the most interesting and thought provoking pieces I have ever seen and I highly recommend it as one of the most amazing political and social performances put on in the recent times. DV8 really do set the bar themselves then leap right over it and put on the most amazing drama. An absolute must see.                                                                                                

Joe Plumb