LondonTheatre1

London Theatre: Tickets Reviews | News | West End | Off-West End | UK Touring Productions

Hairspray at the London Coliseum
  • Home
  • Tickets
    • Musicals
    • Plays
    • West End Theatres
      • Matinees
      • Seating Plans
      • Ambassadors Theatre
      • Duke of York’s Theatre
      • Fortune Theatre
      • Harold Pinter Theatre
      • Lyceum Theatre
      • New Wimbledon Theatre
      • New Wimbledon Theatre Studio
      • Piccadilly Theatre
      • Playhouse Theatre London
      • Richmond Theatre
      • Trafalgar Studios
    • Come From Away
    • Dear Evan Hansen
    • Les Miserables
    • Matilda the Musical
    • Pretty Woman the Musical
    • The Lion King Musical
    • The Mousetrap
    • The Phantom of the Opera
    • The Prince of Egypt
    • The Woman in Black
    • Tina the Musical
    • Wicked
  • News
    • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • Ballet
    • Cabaret
    • Children’s Theatre
    • Circus
    • Comedy
    • Dance
    • Immersive
    • Music
    • Musicals
    • Opera
    • Plays
  • UK Show News
  • Regional Theatres
  • Dancewear
Home » London Theatre News » Re:Home It’s a voice that deserves to be heard – Review

Re:Home It’s a voice that deserves to be heard – Review

February 13, 2016 Last updated: May 18, 2018 10:46 pm By Liz Dyer

RehomeIn 2006, Offstage Theatre presented their first production, Home. Directed by Cressida Brown and written based on interviews with residents, the piece documented the life of a family on the Beaumont Estate in Leyton, shortly before the high rise flats were demolished and the majority of their inhabitants rehoused in Essex.

Ten years later, the award-winning Re:Home takes the company back to where it all began, looking back on those stories and placing them alongside new ones. The resulting show is part drama, part documentary, and gives a fascinating insight into not only life on – and off – the estate, but also the complex emotional response of those who were forced to leave their home and community behind.

Don’t get me wrong; Re:Home doesn’t set out to paint a falsely idyllic picture of the Beaumont, or the people who lived there. Before the show begins, we’re shown video footage from one of the vacated tower blocks, which is – in the words of more than one of its former residents – pretty nasty. Later, we hear about the people who committed suicide by leaping from the roof, and about the young man stabbed to death on his doorstep, just because he was from the Beaumont.

But we also learn that the high rise flats offered one of the best views in London, and that this is a place where everyone knew everyone – some were neighbours for decades. More than once, the point is made that, for better or worse, the Beaumont really isn’t about the buildings, but the people who lived in them; each of the voices that make up Re:Home, in its own way, offers a heartfelt tribute to a lost community.

These voices are brought to life by a cast of four actors – Waleed Akhtar, Hasan Dixon, T’Nia Miller and Rose Riley – who slip without a moment’s hesitation in and out of countless different characters, be they male, female, old or young. Moving ceaselessly, they cover every inch of Georgia Lowe’s set, giving the piece a restless and urgent feel throughout. The material included in the show is shared through recordings, video, transcripts, reenactments and drawings (don’t be fooled by the bare set – it’s actually a giant canvas), and though it flips back and forth in time between 2005 and 2015, captions ensure that we always know who’s speaking and from when.

Re:Home won the Kevin Spacey Foundation Artists of Choice – UK Theatre Award in 2015, and it’s not hard to see why. The show is a haunting portrait of a time, a place and a community that’s gone forever; many of the interviewees mention ghosts, and you can really feel their presence. Re:Home is at time moving, at others gripping, and often very funny, perfectly capturing the personality and spirit of the people without whom it could never have been made.

Offstage Theatre’s website states that the show is ‘giving a voice to a community that no longer exists’. It’s a voice that deserves to be heard.

5 Star Rating

 

Review by Liz Dyer

Our homes belong to us.
Ten years ago residents of the Beaumont Estate Towers in Leyton looked on as their homes were dismantled brick by brick.
Re:Home sequels Cressida Brown’s 2006 production, Home, made and performed before people were moved out of the towers.

In 2016, Cressida revisits the Beaumont Estate to make a show about what our homes mean to us today. Using testimonies collected from former and current residents of the estate, Re:Home documents fraying relationships in the changing landscape of East London.

Winner of the Kevin Spacey Foundation Artists of Choice, UK Theatre Award, Re:Home is a show brimming with urgency and compassion, giving a voice to a community that no longer exists.

Offstage Theatre with Paul Jellis and The Yard Theatre presents
Re:Home
Created by Offstage Theatre
http://www.offstage.org.uk/
Directed by Cressida Brown and designed by Georgia Lowe
Produced by Paul Jellis
Tuesday 9 February to Saturday 5 March, 8pm
70 minutes | No interval
http://www.theyardtheatre.co.uk/

Livestreamed performance of Outside at Orange Tree Theatre

There were moments in Two Billion Beats when one wonders if the youth of today really do talk in the way in which the script says they do. Do they … [Read More...]

New interactive magic show The Secret Connection | Review

I have spent much of the last thirteen months of Lockdown (it seems a great deal longer!) in trying to avoid ZOOM meetings, but Dr Will Houstoun’s The … [Read More...]

The Seth Concert Series – Ali Stroker | Review

Diplomacy is better than brute force, though in Ali Stroker’s case it wasn’t so much consultation and dialogue that secured her roles across film, … [Read More...]

West End in Blackpool – Winter Gardens | Review

Winter Gardens in Blackpool is certainly a versatile venue - BBC Television’s Strictly Come Dancing, usually filmed at Elstree Studios, goes up to … [Read More...]

A digital retelling of hit musical Disenchanted | Review

This was like an eighty-minute meeting that could have been an email. The only worthy bit of narrative was a few sentences, printed white text on a … [Read More...]

London Theatre 1 and London Theatre One are Registered Trademarks Copyright 2021 www.LondonTheatre1.com
By using our website you’re confirming that you’re happy to accept our use of cookies.
Privacy Policy & Cookies - Advertising - About Us - Newsletter - Contact Us
Customer Helpline: +44 (0)20 7492 1602
As an Amazon Associate our website receives a commission from qualifying purchases from Amazon.