The Good Person of Szechwan, Sheffield Crucible review

★★★.5

Reviewer - Harry

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.

TW The production contains the following physical effects: Flashing lights, smoke and haze, and loud sounds (some of which may be sudden). We suggest bringing ear defenders if you are sensitive to loud noises.

The Good Person of Szechwan contains references to, or staging of: adult themes, with mild sexual references.

On Thursday I got to see The Good Person of Szechwan at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre, written and originally created by Bertolt Brecht and translated by Nina Segal. It tells the story of the hustle and bustle of a modern-day metropolis, it's a dog-eat-dog world and Shen Te is doing all she can to get by.

Back to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Brecht’s play, this new production was originally commissioned by ETT. The show follows Shen Te and when three gods reward her hospitality with a life-changing sum of money. Shen Te opens a tobacco shop and claims the stability she's always dreamed of. But the struggle is not over yet. Forced to question the cost of her own survival, she resorts to scheming and deceit to flourish in a capitalist world.

The show's subject matter is capitalism, greed and corruption. The genre of the show is hard-hitting to witness but there are hints of comedy, songs and movement which help evaluate some light-heartedness to the overall production.

Directed by Anthony Lau some of the directions felt a little off and quite distracting to an audience member who wanted to solely connect with what is unfolding in the story rather than what the actors were doing out of character in the space.

I found the writing of this production quite hard to stick with but it gave an overall better understanding of some topics in the world today. As mentioned the show did have lighthearted moments; one of those being the 3 gods who all had the comedic relief to contrast the scene, whilst keeping with their storyline of saving the world and finding The Good Person of Szechwan.

DJ Walde’s music pulsates into the space with movement by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille igniting some dynamics in the production. Collectively they helped deliver a stronger storyline and some aligned well by doing this. The cast worked confidentially alongside the energy that needed to be enhanced in the space. They delivered new ways to see how you can make the performance current and updated but still keep it accurate to the original.

The performers were strong in their acting roles with some having to multi-role, with up to 4 parts. The cast grasped this classical text and has really flown with the idea of making it a bold new adaptation that can engage new audiences.

Someone who stood out to me was Ami Tredrea who played the main character, Shen Te and multi-rolling to Shen Ta, the so-called cousin of Shen Te. Multi-rolling isn’t easy Ami swapped to each role in a matter of seconds swiftly and efficiently without any hassle at all. Her contrasts are really clear between each character. You can see Ami pushing Shen Te’s life by just trying to get by.

Another who stood out was Nick Blakely who played the third God. The gods had standalone scenes throughout the first act but came together with the whole cast in the second act. Nick's role is comedic and empathetic towards Shen Te. Nick has great comedy acting delivering the comedy lines with great comedic timing. Nick always sees the good in Shen Te and is clearly shown in the acting choices made with great reactions and responses from the lines, and the facial expression and delivering lines. Nick was clear and understandable throughout, I could hear what was being said even when the god scenes were hectic.

Sheffield Theatres have delivered another great show. To which not only will it play at Sheffield but will transfer to the Lyric Hammersmith. It was a good show, some design elements did confuse me and some parts of the show also lost me but, I’m always open to new genres of theatre and different subject forms and this show is a bold and didactic take on a popular play.