A play that clearly has its heart in the right place, but which is let down by one dimensional characters who do an injustice to its message. Summary
Rating
Good!
There’s an art in picking the right venue for your show and without a doubt, Street feels very much at home at Barons Court Theatre. Although perhaps, home is not the appropriate word to use for a show about homelessness! The slightly rustic feel of this intimate basement space works well; the claustrophobic feel it can create allows us to be absorbed into a world of dark alcoves and of people trying not to be seen.
Those people trying not to be seen are Foster (Bill Gurney) and Miriam (Maisie Tiedeman), homeless and clearly fighting just to survive each new dawn. When the pair suddenly find Christian (Hadrian Conyngham) and Fay (Serena Lehman) in their space, the dynamics change as Foster and Miriam fight over whether they should help these new arrivals or push them away to avoid having to share the meagre food and charity available. Except Christian and Fay are not at all what they pretend to be. They are there for the ‘experience’ – to see what it’s like to be invisible. For them, it’s a choice; almost a game to play of being homeless, safe in the knowledge that they can stop at any time.
It’s a great concept, and there is no doubt that writer and director Liviu Monsted comes from a place of genuine desire to address a serious issue and try to present it in a way that will generate important conversations. His Christian and Fay represent the people who look down upon those less fortunate – those forced into homelessness for a multitude of reasons. The problem is that whilst Foster and Miriam feel fully formed, Christian and Fay are the complete opposite; one-dimensional and caricatures of what they represent, too extreme to feel quite believable. And it’s this that devalues the play, with the annoyance generated at this pair taking our attention away from the real issue that Monsted wants to draw our attention towards. Rather than leave the venue with a clear viewpoint of the issues of homelessness and concern for the real Fosters and Miriams of the world, it instead risks us leaving laughing at the stupidity of the Christian and Fays. Or worse, it risks leaving an audience as guilty as Christian and Fay in treating homelessness as simply poverty porn, something to watch and laugh at and wonder why these people didn’t make better life choices.
However, there is much that is good within Street. Tiedeman’s Miriam is an absolute standout, eliciting sympathy and concern in her depiction of a woman living on the edge of existence. Her need for human contact should make anyone think next time they walk past someone homeless, as if they were invisible. Likewise, Gurney’s panic when he can’t wake Miriam one morning is a poignant moment that perfectly encapsulates the cold, harsh truth of their lives.
The simple set and lighting are to be admired as well. The streetlight that sits at the centre of everything creates a wonderful focal point for both the visuals and the script: as it comes on and off, we realise how their world turns around night and day.
Street certainly has its heart in the right place, and in Foster and Miriam, the plight of homelessness is treated with respect. But in its portrayal of the excitement seekers, it devalues itself. Perhaps rewriting these characters to soften the edges and give them a little more depth would benefit a show that could offer a much more insightful view of this invisible side of existence.
Written & Directed by Liviu Monsted
Produced by Mons Sans Production
Lighting & Sound by Melanie Percy
Street has completed its run at Barons Court Theatre
