YESYESNONO go bold and take on French history
★★★★☆
Sam Ward of the theatre company YESYESNONO is well known for making introspective and intimate work. His most recent piece We Were Promised Honey was a piece of collective storytelling in which the audience is truly part of the narrative. Here Ward has taken a different approach, opting to direct and write, this time with a five-strong cast on stage. The format too is different, it is bigger, bolder and Brechtian as the actors recount the events of the bloody French Revolution. This is Horrible Histories but for adults and I mean this in a good way.
Ward retains his ability to sculpt language within this new production. The script is rich and textured in describing events, ensuring the narrative is vivid and engrossing despite the stage set like a high school gymnasium. It neatly flips between humour and seriousness, the contrast intense as we navigate monumental moments most of us haven’t considered since year eight history. The storming of the Bastille is comically recreated as sports commentary whilst the peasants breach the walls and the warden is unceremoniously dragged from his quarters, his commentary continuing but now descending into graphic detail as his limbs are removed, the comedy long vanished.
This piece hammers home the violence of the time, repeatedly telling us the numbers killed and never shying from the explicit specifics, but it is nicely balanced with outlandish humour and over-the-top characterizations. Joe Boylan revels as King Louis XVI, always waving his arms around and perpetually childish plus Jessica Enemokwu and Paul Brendan have great fun as the Essex accented washer women. The cast works rapidly together, sharing characters and Ward’s precise writing, each emphasising the comedy and weight in sequence. There are a few stumbles over lines and timings but this will undoubtedly be ironed out as the play settles.
As someone who briefly studied the time at school, but never in proper detail, I found this to be an incredibly informative and accessible history lesson complete with an abundance of floppy white wigs. Though dressed in French sporting attire the cast rely on cardboard labels to ensure we know who they are portraying, helping us to keep up and know whether at this moment they are the aristocrats, bourgeoise or peasants. Han Sayles's lighting is aggressive but not out of place. It strikes across the stage and occasionally in our direction, matching the intensity of the performers but too sits back in calmer moments as we reflect on what has just taken place. Tom Foskett-Barnes provides the sound as both designer and composer, the score shifting uncomfortably around us and pulsating with ferocity when needed. The design package from both draws out the tension, further bringing the audience into the whirlwind of chaos.
Where this piece stumbles is in its messaging. We are told that the revolution is not over, having learnt through the French Revolution that there are many false horizons to these events, but I am not sure whether Ward is asking us to challenge the systems of power around us or to give in because change is impossible and bloody. It is impossible not to see the parallels to current political events, our relationship with Europe, as well as the state of politics at home and abroad - despite the promise of change the elite ruling ever more powerfully.
The Glorious French Revolution remains a stimulating work of theatre and in classic YESYESNONO style feels like something never seen before. The cast fully commit to the cause, empowered by brilliant writing and well-executed design. Unique and absorbing.
Currently booking until 14th December - Tickets
Photography - Alex Brenner
