Who is making theatre like YESYESNONO? The Manchester-based company is back with an immersive, story-telling experience. Enter:
His cadence and lyrical script almost scripture-like
The narrative style is far from traditional with tangents and time-travel that stretch our round theatre to encircle a near-cosmic scale. But the true-story we cannot escape is that of Richard Russell: a man who stole an air-plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in 2018, completed a series of highly technical stunts, and had never taken a flying lesson. As Sam Ward reminds us time and time again, Russell’s story – like ours – doesn’t end how we’d hope, and the performance is all the more poignant for this reminder.
With shaved head and all-white attire, Ward cuts a striking figure. Our story-teller resembles a prophet of the future, his cadence and lyrical script almost scripture-like in its depth.
You can feel Ward’s gravitational pull as a performer when moments of audience interaction fulfil his ethos of democratic story-telling. This is, as he tells us, “the show that we’re about to do.” He asks us to take a breath, to raise our hands and give our consent to start the story. In these moments, the collective energy is palpable. It speaks to the writing’s central message of universal birth and death, and the sharedness of story-telling.
Less successful are the suggestions Ward takes from the audience. At times gratuitous, we’re never convinced that a different suggestion would meaningfully change the experience, and Ward reverts to the role of the more traditional master-storyteller.
I could watch We Were Promised Honey! with my eyes closed: it’s simple and breath-taking, but I want more time with its words. Long lists sometimes merge into incoherence and we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the story. Even so, the atmosphere is exhilarating. Lucky for me, the script is being published this month. But while you’re here, We Were Promised Honey! is well-worth a taste.
