(5 / 5)
High Rise Estate of Mind is an energetic, reflective, daring, compelling and convicting production; igniting all to come and feel at home in a place you can’t technically call home cause you don’t own the property. Themes explored are the concepts revolving around working twice as hard to ensure you have a roof over your head whilst keeping up with rent costs to prevent eviction and trolling from your landlord.
The city heights is circulated around modern metropolitan living where residency is fluctuating and thoughts are unravelling on demands for expansions on suitable housing. Meanwhile families are left to struggle in their tightly compact apartments, stuck on the waiting list for comfortability, struck with mis-informed implementations in their local area. This production touches on fundamental concepts that depicts the real life living conditions in the UK.
A creative narrative that reflects the modern day reality of the inflicting pain of the housing issue, figuratively told through various elements of rap, spoken word, beatbox and looping. Credibility to the casts; Conrad Murray – Co artistic director, Paul Cree- Co Artistic director, David Bonnick Jr-Associate Artist and Lakeisha Lynch Stevans, they all played on their individual strengths.
This production is an autobiography of the casts personal lives as they enact the challenges and determination of the days they’ve dreamt about leaving the estate. The impersonations in this play truly foretold the relationship between programmed landlords and submissive tenants. Paul Cree had effectively embodied the characteristics of a robot by remaining monotone, dry humoured, insensitive, transparent and unresponsive.
The chemical imbalance of the landlords disfiguration prevented him from emphasising with his tenant when facing potential eviction. Due to the landlords insensitivity you noticed the tenants feelings climaxed to feeling extremely frantic, hurt and punished. This production is a well perceived reality of UK citizens feeling cursed in a dysfunctional system. High Rise Estate tackles angles of life for the majority of people living in estates dealing with unkept communal areas, negligence of maintenance issues and the overall mindset derived from the living conditions in fabricated England.
The Mis-en-scene and set was very simplistic. The casts were dressed identically in all black wearing a hoodie, cap, tracksuit bottoms and shirt, which was great in preventing distractions. Each cast member stood with a mic stand in front of them, this play featured live looping and acoustic playing which made this play even more impactful. Their voices blessing the mic majestically set the mood, tone and effectiveness for the entire show.
This production is so figuratively rich with different music genres and content. The casts evidently wanted to be neutral on stage remaining themselves, which they successfully achieved. This piece also addresses the concerns of many middle aged men and women still living with their parents based on the struggle of affording to move out. High Rise Estate of Mind consists of extremely moving performances, raising awareness by uniquely retelling dimensions of various truths.
High Rise eState of Mind will be showing at Battersea Arts Centre from the 20th – 30th March as part of the Occupy Festival.