Review: Rupture, Live Theatre Studio, Newcastle
Rupture is the latest drama from Open Clasp Theatre Company to explore the experiences of women, by co-creating the work with them.
Written by the company’s founding artistic director, Catrina McHugh and directed by Rachel Glover, the thoughtful hour-long play has been shaped by the lives of women and mothers in HMP Low Newton who worked with the creative team.
In Live’s fitting attic studio space, we meet mum and inmate Destiny (Narisha Lawson) as she finds herself on the prison roof on bonfire night.
It’s quickly apparent that this was the result of a split second decision during a medical emergency rather than any kind of considered escape or protest plan. Destiny has no ambitions for the evening beyond enjoying the fireworks and the half a packet of biscuits she finds in her pockets.
Over the course of the evening, we learn about her troubled life, the children she’s loved and lost to social services and foster homes, the bad relationships she’s endured and her own broken childhood.
Destiny’s tale is woven together from scraps and fragments as the script jumps around with her attention. While she is engaging and funny, she is no raconteur – her childlike enthusiasm for the world beyond the prison means her stories are more often than not interrupted by a firework or a vulture.
By the end of the night there are still some pretty big gaps in the story, but we’ve heard enough to know that Destiny has been let down by almost every institution or person she’s ever depended on. She’s had more taken from her than any person should have, but still finds hope and humour in the world.
Another chapter in Open Clasp’s mission to ‘change the world, one play at a time’, Rupture aims to provoke questions about how we treat mothers that end up behind bars, and the broken families they often leave behind.
It does this powerfully without coming across as remotely preachy or didactic.
Narisha Lawson is fantastic, and brings an effervescent energy and life to the character and the show, and for all Destiny’s failings and mistakes you can’t help but root for her.
The set and lighting do a good job of transporting the audience to the prison roof, surrounded by fireworks and the distant sounds of life outside the gates, and Rachel Glover’s direction means there is barely time to breathe during the show’s hour. Visiting time was over all too quickly, but they made every minute count
Rupture is touring to North East venues - including closed performances in HMP Low Newton, HMP Deerbolt and HMP Askam Grange - until March 18. More details can be found on the Open Clasp Theatre Company website.