A gloriously loud love letter to a place where clubbers once flocked from mining villages to escape and be who they wanted to be.Rating
Excellent
Children of the Night is a classic clubbing song from the mid-1990s and the perfect eponymous title for Danielle Phillips’ rite of passage anthem set in Doncaster. The play is danced out at Southwark Playhouse Borough with incredible high octane, fast-paced energy to tell a story of young female working class experience.
This is 90ish minutes of nostalgia if you escaped to the dance floors in the late 90s, or an authentic, loud, brash, self-professed love letter to the cultural North, specifically to ‘Donny’ and the former Karisma club that inspired Phillips to interview 30 of its regulars. The latter is evident in Phillip’s writing which is well-crafted, sharp, raw and unflinchingly honest.
Opening around 1997 when post-Thatcher Britain was still recovering from the pit closures, the story centres on Lindsey (Phillips) and her best friend Jen (Charlotte Brown) who are on a promise of things getting better and a teenage quest to the epicentre of Duke Street and euphoria. Fed on Spice Girls telling them what they really want, Lindsey is an intelligent, brash young woman raised by a single parent dad (Gareth Radcliffe), kindly despite suffering from cerebral hypoxia as a consequence of his time down the mines. Early scenes are fast-paced and funny with enjoyable landmark references like ‘Mothercare Corner’ or ‘The Codfather’ chippie interspersed with getting ready rituals, clubbing codes and girls only behaviour. The best friend chemistry is magic as they banter, snog, jump queues to clamber around the space, with joyfully evocative movement by Jennifer Kay.
The set is a neat, solid block cleverly designed by Hannah Sibai with an urban silhouette suggestive of industry and levels of steps that represent Karisma staircases or serve as the domestic interior of home. It houses the kitchen sink exchanges between father and daughter when anger is trapped, aspirations squashed and love is under-demonstrated yet present. The geography of Doncaster is mapped with precision by meticulous directing from Kimberley Sykes so the spaces are clearly defined and imaginatively filled. Jessie Addinall makes the set alive using multi-coloured, flexible fluorescent tube lights that transform environments or reflect the narrative mood. Visual favourites like the club dance floor are so vibrant that the audience are almost compelled to join in
Likewise the playlist and Ben McQuigg’s sounds are irresistible cultural references. Voiceover and rave history relevance are given an extra layer too by the DJ narrative elements, played live by Phillips and Radcliffe. Phillips also makes spoken word social comment that lyrically balances the quick fire dialogue amidst dark beat emotions and interchanges. And the darkness is there beneath the eventual hedonism. Darkening the mood in the years to come are a cluster of HIV cases that counteract sexual freedom – Phillips plays her character’s sexual encounters in their dark, messy, real, painful and sometimes gross reality. We hear how the health authority sets up a health line for concerned women and local nightclubs, along with themes of class and the prejudices around single women. Race and micro aggressions are also part of the Vegas of Yorkshire’s musical score.
Maybe limited by the structure of a 90 minute play, it feels that some of the later sections need more time to breathe and gradually rebuild .Yet Terry and Lindsey’s relationship is tender and real. Ultimately this is a gloriously loud love letter to a place that once had clubbers flocking from mining villages to escape and be who they wanted to be. It is a celebration of female friendship, of love and working class culture. In these times there is a need to dance furiously like 90s clubbers as an act of liberation. Let’s go.
Written by Danielle Phillips
Directed and Dramaturg by Kimberley Sykes
Produced by Lauren Yvonne Townsend
Set and Costume Design by Hannah Sibai
Sound Design and Composed by Ben McQuigg
Lighting Design by Jessie Addinall
Movement Director: Jennifer Kay
Dramaturg by Stephanie Dale
Presented by Mad Friday Productions
Children of the Night runs at Southwark Playhouse Borough until Saturday 4 April.
