The Upsetters is a short play night written, directed and performed by people of colour (unless otherwise specified in the script). The evening collectively provides an opportunity for unrepresented backgrounds to tell their stories through performance. Every story was told from a different background and communicated tales about cultural differences, discrimination and how to be seen and heard by the community. All five short plays were wonderful, so I will do a short review for each play.
Where do Mangoes Grow
Chantelle Dusette’s piece shows the relationship between a woman’s parents from the Windrush Generation. Clips of Theresa May speaking about the new immigration laws are played to demonstrate how the immigration laws introduced mean these people would be denied NHS treatment, the ability to continue working, or even stay in the UK by not having the correct documentation. Anthony Chisholm was brilliant as the father and Shante Campbell’s direction intertwines the family bond well, introducing the effects it has on both generations. However, the vocal projection could have been improved as it was difficult to hear what was happening. More context was needed near the end of the play as it was unclear what was happening, there was a heavy reliance on the recordings to tell the story. More detail was required to see the political impact of this on their family, I was unsure whether her father’s death was a metaphor or if the stress of the new laws had killed him.
