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) (2/4) By Michelle Dee

(1/4), (2/4), (3/4), (4/4).

At times the scenes are just brief glimpses into the characters' lives. It's as if you are just reading a page or two of the chapter. You may be left hanging, as one part of a scene freezes and another begins thousands of miles away, on another part of the stage. Then in turn, that part-scene would end and the action would return to where you were left hanging minutes before. This device conveyed the idea that all the stories were progressing at the same time, they also allowed the emotion you had invested in the characters to build up both individually and collectively; you are left waiting, wondering what was going to befall them next. This method of jumping in out of the characters lives meant you could learn things out of sequence about the characters and then understand their responses and reactions.

The way the stage is simply set out, and the use of live filming linked to the screen at the back of the stage is innovative and exciting. It has the strange effect of distancing the viewer and yet makes the action is more intense. You are watching something unfolding on the stage, simultaneously being played on the large screen, just as if you were watching a film in a picture house.

The close up images of the dancer gyrating works particularly well, to convey the seediness and underground nature of the meeting during the nightclub scene where the Boston businessman is meeting his Russian contact for the first time. This contact works for the aforementioned shadowy figure Samira Aslam played by Roya Amiri who runs, amongst her legitimate concerns, a very unsavoury business of trafficking women for the sex trade.

During the play the action is broken up by a series of challenging images by Photo/Journalist Pete Pattisson combined with narration describing the industrial scale of, for example, the brick making. The staggering figures of 65 million bricks, made for 75,000 separate kilns and each worker making a 1000 of these mud bricks a day for the equivalent of just one pound off their debt.

You learn from watching the story of Mumtaz Masih - also played by Roya Amiri- and her young daughter Yasmeena, how the concept of debt bonded slavery works. The Masih family, have at one time, borrowed money for food, clean water, clothes and somewhere to live. Sometime later they have to pay it back. Of course most will never be able to pay the money back, and are put to work making the bricks for use in building.

Due to the uppermost importance of not bringing dishonour to the family name, and the religiosity surrounding the idea of the sins of the father being passed on to the son, the whole family suffer this evil. It appears that Mumtaz's husband has fled, her son has been taken in by the unfeeling boss Zafar Shah -played with a really callous tone by Duggal Ram- so she and her daughter have to work doubly hard to pay the family debt. The division of families breaks their collective strength, increases their vulnerability and allows those with the power to wield it any which way. Roya Amiri was the picture of pathos when portraying the sadness, the despair and the fear for her own and her daughters' lives.

Again, the use of the live filming made her performance take on larger than life qualities. Her look straight to camera then reproduced on the screen, on learning the news of her husband's, "fatal accident", was the look of a broken woman; a mother once strong, but whose spirit is failing and resolve undermined.

Continued...Next Page (3/4)

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Saturday 1st July - Germaine Greer at Hull By Laura Kilvington
	As a enthusiastic follower of feminist literature, I attended the talk by Germaine Greer with the expectation of an intense, second wave feminism discussion like the, all societies on the verge of death are masculine (Greer:1984) type opinions which I associated with her. Instead, the rubric of Greer's discussion was Anne Hathaway, the older and greatly overlooked Read more...

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Friday 30th June - Galloway Trucking in Hull By Martin J Deane George Galloway Photographs by Ben Gurevitch
	George Galloway, MP for Tower Hamlets in East London played Spring Street Theatre, Hull on Friday. Despite introducing himself as having spent 6 hours in the back of a car suffering from food poisoning he delivered an entertaining, insightful and though-provoking show. Here is a flavour of it! It's not verbatim but from notes so any errors are my own! Read more...

Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - John Pilger at the Ferens By Martin J Deane
	Blair is the most right wing Prime Minister I have ever known. And that includes Thatcher! In a wide ranging talk on Tuesday night, John Pilger shared his experiences of nearly 40 years of investigative journalism giving a flavour of the man who, over 40 years, has made it an art. In his opening remarks, John Pilger said how he used to cover northern England for Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Storm Watcher By Graham Joyce Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Simultaneously an unusual and extraordinary story set in France, a multitude of winning elements ensure that The Storm Watcher is always an engrossing read, as sheer drama is played up against some chilling thrills and spills. The author in the award-winning Joyce grew up in Coventry, but over the years he has lived in various places, such as on Read more...

Reviews, Books - Bowie : Loving The Alien By Christopher Sandford Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Rock writer Christopher Sandford sure doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to writing highly detailed and thoroughly engrossing biographies of some of the biggest names in rock music. As well as having written this mini-masterpiece about Bowie, he's also dedicated huge swathes of time and energy to documenting the fascinating lives and times of other rock Read more...

Reviews, Books - Lunar Park By Bret Easton Ellis Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	This has to have been one of the most extraordinary and surprising books published in 2005, simply because it has been written by the hugely controversial author of American Psycho - and because the form that Lunar Park takes is so jaw-droppingly unexpected. Bret Easton Ellis is one clever man, as revealed by the way in which this novel unfolds, Read more...

Reviews, Books - Surfacing By Margaret Atwood Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Poetry and prose. Two separate entities, right? Wrong! Surfacing bears full-frontal, gob-gawping witness to that as one of the most important novels of the 20th century (according to the New York Times anyroad) in this bizarre beauty naturally glides with sheer poetry within rasping prose. Set in remote Quebec, this super slow-burning drama shadows a young Read more...

Reviews, Films - Welcome to Silent Hill By Gregory Anderson
	A deliciously dark film of fear mongering, Silent Hill takes you on a terrifyingly absurd quest. Where to? That is a question this film doesn't answer, but enjoys twisting round you to find it. Of course playing the game helps understand this film. I found the game itself to be relatively arbitrary and linear, rather like this film. However, the game is foreboding and visually Read more...

Reviews, Books - Magic Hoffman by Jakob Arjouni Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	'We were young then, as if getting older were some kind of illness for which there was no cure.' Magic Hoffman, the novel, is translated from the German original and follows the captivating story of Fred and his best friends Nickel and Annette. Following a botched bank heist, Fred serves 4 years' porridge and - as any friend would do - refrains from dobbing his mates in. Anyway, Read more...

Reviews, Films - An American Haunting (15) By Gregory Anderson
	Possession? On rental, probably. Call yourself a horror movie fan? Perhaps you'll get something from this. Not particularly focused on horror movies? Then you may still enjoy it. Imagine The Exorcist set in 1800s God-fearing America over the period of several weeks. The premises for this film look awesome on paper. Taking into account you've watched the trailer, Read more...

Reviews, Books - Stuart MacBride - Dying Light (HarperCollins) Published 2nd May 2006 Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Dying Light is the eagerly anticipated second novel from new crime-fiction hotshot, Stuart MacBride, and follows sharply on the heels of last year's critically acclaimed debut, Cold Granite. Once again following the story of Detective Sergeant Logan 'Lazarus' McRae, Dying Light opens with him set to cement his position as the rising star of Aberdeen's CID. Read more...

Reviews, Films - The Dark (15) By Gregory Anderson
	Clever psychological horror, perhaps too clever? This clever psychological horror film perhaps lets itself down by being too clever? If you enjoy the blurred boundaries of the supernatural/subconscious, however, this is a well-paced, atmospheric film about a couple losing their daughter, only to believe they can bring her back from the dead. There are criticisms, however, that Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	One should never underestimate the power of books. New York-obsessed Paul Auster is back, and he's clearly writing better than ever in light of this astounding novel of epic and forever-surprising proportions. Paul was born back in 1947, and since 1974 he's rightfully become a widely acclaimed writer of novels, screenplays and poetry ... amongst other things. Read more...

Reviews, Films - The Road to Guantanamo, Channel 4, Thursday 9th March 06 By Patrick Henry
	Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross's work is hardly like anything else ever shown on television, which makes it remarkable and welcome, though not to The New Statesman's reviewer who complains of its deficiencies, TV-wise, and that it fails to inform about the political attitudes of the protagonists or the real nature of Camp X-Ray and as a road movie lacks amusement. Read more...

Reviews, Books - Mission Flats by William Landay Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Crime-thrillers come no better than this edge-of-the-seat masterwork from American writer William Landay, who here delivers a truly superb debut novel that attacks the senses and ultimately leaves you reeling from the brilliantly-staged shock ending. It's amazing how some Crime writers make their stories sound so authentic courtesy of the detailed lengths that they go to in order Read more...

Reviews, Theatre - Friday 17th February - The Hull Blokes Present Love - A Night Of Comedy, Drama And Passion at Northern Theatre By Jane Foster
	The Hull Blokes are a talented bunch of 13 local, er, blokes! who I have had the pleasure of seeing twice before in their relatively short life. So I thought it was high time to do them justice and write a review. The Blokes have been lucky enough to secure themselves a home in the new Northern Theatre building, which in my opinion is more welcoming and Read more...

Reviews, Books - The Loop by Nicholas Evans Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	This is the second breathtaking novel from Nicholas, the first having being the international best-selling weepy, The Horse Whisperer which shot the English-based writer to fame. The Loop has nothing to do with horses whatsoever, and instead focuses on the trials of a wild pack of wolves that is terrorising a farming community in Montana. A 29-year old wolf expert called Helen is Read more...

Reviews, Books - Rising To Obscurity and How To Remain Anonymous by AAA Aarbon (Bitterne Books) Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
	Published by Hull-based Bitterne Books, the first two titles in this humorous series offer a different take on the modern world that we live in. Part satire, part social comment, they follow the story of AAA Aarbon, a self-confessed seeker of anonymity. AAA Aarbon is described by his editor as being best forgotten for many reasons. Rising To Obscurity charts the absurd Read more...

Reviews, Books - Notes From a Small Island By Bill Bryson Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	Good old Bill is a natural comedian and never holds back when it comes to being honest. He's one of the world's best-loved and most famous travel writers, and this volume of 'notes' is exclusively concerned with a number of weeks that Bill spent investing in the art of travelling around Britain back in the mid 90's. His travel writing talents first came to prominence when he released Read more...

Reviews, Books - Flashback By Jenny Siler Reviewed by Steve Rudd
	The past is a puzzle for everyone, a tattered collection of memory and desire. Even those people we most long to understand remain no more than a sum of those static moments we've chosen to hold them in. This is a must-read novel for any discerning fan of high-octane, Steve Hamilton-esque thrillers, as the drama-drenched action flits the length and breadth of the Read more...