Monday 15th October Disposable People A Croft Creative Production By Andrew Pearson and Thom Stridd At The Boatshed Hull Marina (show runs from 15th - 20th October)
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By Michelle Dee
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Monday evening, inside a cavernous boat shed on Hull marina, a tale of international importance and concern is unfolding. A terrible tale; a tale of modern day slavery, which the general public support, without a moment's thought, on a daily basis. That new leather bag you bought, those shoes, all those cheap t-shirts you got last week; ask yourself where were they made, by whom and in what kind of conditions?
Disposable People, directed by Andrew Pearson and Thom Stridd is set in present times and the stories unfold in an anonymous British city and in Lahore Pakistan. The opening oration sees the cast members walking on stage, walking in time to a threnody from a solitary accordion, each telling the different stories of slaves, each one trying to be heard over the next.
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This was a strong representation of the many thousands of voiceless people imprisoned by the chains
of modern day slavery. We are told by Lena (a schoolteacher from the Ukraine) portrayed fearlessly by
Rachel Dale, that we are given two gifts; Life and Hope. Lena has come to England duped by a glossy advertisement promising a better life.
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Much like a popular novel, you are introduced to the different characters, their personalities and predicaments, which over the course of the play are skilfully woven together. There's the debt bonded slave mother and daughter in Lahore, making bricks out of the earth to be fired in kilns, there's the American businessman and his wife about to become embroiled in the development of slave factories and the life of one desperate woman from the Ukraine.
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There's the idealistic filmmaker, filled with passion to show the world that contemporary
slavery is a very real and pressing concern, perhaps echoing that of the prize-winning author
Kevin Bales whose book Disposable People informed the development of the play at every turn. The idea that change can be brought about by giving these people a voice was prevalent throughout the play.
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The fact that the disillusioned journalist Charles, tries to save his career and possibly his soul, with an exposé of the exploitation in Lahore and its connections to the hidden, violent world of people-trafficking underlines the idea that words are a powerful weapon; perhaps, one of the only ones we have at our disposal to counter the exploitation and systematic abuse of human rights.
There's the untouchable Pakistani business woman whose sway is central to all the characters, yet she herself, in keeping with her aloof nature, remains a shadowy figure. She is seen on the screen barking out instructions, she is felt in conversation and she is heard on the phone; but never to my mind, is there an interacting scene with her physically in it.
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It occurred to me that men are often depicted as the greater evil when talking about trafficking people for use in the sex industry. So it came as quite a shock that in this play it was a woman whose ambition and desire to succeed in the male dominated corporate world, was heading up a business exploiting her fellow woman.
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| What's Happening? |
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| Chill Out |
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