Eurotrashed

I’m always up for new theatre so when invited to see Eurotrashed, a group of new plays by Birmingham based writers’ group BOLDtext, I jumped at the chance.

I couldn’t make the first night but was lucky enough to catch the second of two evenings which featured four new plays taking a variety of clever looks at Brexit and its possible consequences.

Eurotrashed
Eurotrashed

The result was a fascinating insight into the minds and methods of four accomplished and very different writers on the complex issues surrounding our continued (or not) membership of Europe, confidently steered by director Bob Eaton. To stay or not to stay, that was the big question.

Stephen Jackson’s Flagship featured a sprightly battle of words between two prospective immigrants arriving via the channel on a raft, giving voice to their expectations about the British way of life, accurate or otherwise, providing a nicely oblique glimpse of how we British are perceived and how slightly strange we really are.

Glastonbury by Vanessa Oakes used the different approaches to accessing the Glastonbury Festival taken by two hitchhikers, i.e. buying a ticket or climbing the fence, to take a clever sidelong look at some of the varyingly cynical and more sincere, (some might say naive) views on EU membership generally.

Sayan Kent’s Illusions of Democracy mixed a hairdressers with time travel to bring a sense of historical distance to the EU membership debate with intriguing results.

But my favourite piece was Liz John’s Cogs and Co which employed the cleverly sustained metaphor of a family firm with its bickering alliances and betrayals to remind us that politics, even when it’s the EU is about people too.

Despite performing script in hand clever actors Jade Samuels, Jenny Stokes, Rich Stokes made them disappear through the liveliness of their performances, bringing these sharp new pieces vividly to life.

A lively and well-informed audience discussion on the international issues attendant on leaving the EU followed led by prospective Liberal Democrat candidate Lee Dargue. A fascinating and thought-provoking evening. More please, more.