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) (3/4) By Michelle Dee

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

Secrets and lies, freedom and dreams, money, violence, power and the loss of power, were prominent themes throughout the play. The lie that brought Lena to England, the money she had to make by selling her body for the despicable Mikhail, played with particular menace by Ben Tinniswood. The lies or omissions told or not, by Sumaira to the Eastmans about their role in her business venture, the loss of Lena's power as she is literally stripped of her freedom, objectified and turned into a commodity for sex. Yet she has dreams of freedom that are made all the more real when she convinces Harland Eastman to help her escape her captor.

The violence, although for the most unseen, is particularly telling on learning that Lenny, who's tasked with stopping the punters getting too rough with the girls, has had his tongue removed so he can't speak. Iain Thompson who played the mute character had to convey all his identity and emotions through his facial expressions and body language.

Such was his performance that not only did I feel genuinely sorry for him but began to believe he really couldn't speak. The idea of death is all too real. If you don't do as these people want, then you become useless to them and in being so become very much disposable. The simple stage set, reminiscent of Godber's minimalist approach to stage sets, made it easy to follow the main locations where the drama took place: the Eastman's hotel room stage left, to the old leather sofa, stage right, doubling as the squalor of Lena's prison flat, and the bar in Lahore, then upstage to the dusty kilns in the deserts where the Masih women toil.

Some of the dialogue between the characters hinted at previous events, and was crucial to moving the story along smoothly and comprehensively. The different accents and nuances within patterns of speech befitted the characters well and made them all the more believable. The mix of Russian, American, Pakistani and English accents helped to give the play a worldlier outlook which supports and conveys further the idea that this is a worldwide scandal.

With such a weighty subject I was surprised that there were some moments of light relief within the play, not gut busting rib ticklers, but knowing laughter, particularly during the scenes depicting the shambling yet wistful Charles, played with world weary efficacy by Richard Vergette. He describes his colonial past and the pervasive attitudes to the native communities in derogatory terms, ideas and attitudes that are outdated are still perceptible today. He tells Jack during their first encounter, "We are all slaves to something or someone." Although a minor character, he is given one of the most powerful lines of the play when he shouts to the retreating Jack that, the story doesn't end. Jack is leaving Pakistan, bound for the UK, his film now complete.

The line is particularly resonant because, I know that as I sit here typing, hundreds of thousands of slave workers are just beginning another torturous day of labour with no end in sight. Somewhere not very far from here, another lorry load of frightened young women are being bundled into a fetid hell hole where they will serve the sexual desires of many different men every night.

The play leaves you with many questions as to the fate of the enslaved characters. You can only surmise from the appalling situations they are faced with, that they will only suffer more of the same or worse. The non-acceptance speech given by Jack played by Johnny Yan Henderson at his award's dinner becomes something of a soliloquy as he beseeches his imaginary audience to give a shit about the lives' of slaves in our so called modern society.

Continued...Next Page (4/4)

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