The final performance of 1000 suns is Friday 30th May, for reservations please contact 1000sunsreservations@gmail.com
Hope. It’s the feeling you get when you walk through The Gallery in Kay House, a bland hospital-like building which has hosted many University productions before, only this time it’s been transformed beyond recognition into a picture of a fallen superpower. 1940’s war-effort and cold-war propaganda litter the hall, which is mainly constructed from scrap metal and discarded Coca-Cola cans.
Even before the show has begun, an atmosphere of hostility and insecurity in a post-apocalyptic America permeates, fills the audience with hope that this will be a show unlike any Kay House has ever seen before.
In 1000 Suns’ fiction, a nuclear event destroyed the USA in 1957. The great superpower is reduced to a series of isolated, desolate craters. 100 years later, we follow of group of young people in Radiation Springs, struggling with a divided society, the constant fear of death by illness or at the hands of the privileged, and their own identity and future.
Suns clearly and powerfully communicates life in Radiation Springs through its characters. Freddy, a red-haired mutated vagrant, jaded by being raised by the bottom of an unequal society, is portrayed by Cam Jones with such confidence and coolness that every word spoken sounds as though it’s improvised. His best friend Jesse, delivered by the knee-weakening Andrew Horton, brings an (ever so slightly) more upbeat look at the crater, meeting love interest Laurie, a disillusioned church-girl from the other end of the poverty scale played by Anna Nalpan.
Twins Hope and Michael are perhaps the most interesting relationship of show. While broken, physically and mentally, by the hardship of the crater, their love for each other brings a smile to their tired faces. Amelia Newman’s emotionally stirring Hope, as she fights her illness, is touching, while Will Beynon’s Michael delivers the most moving lines of the show.
Equally sublime is stunning vocalist Hannah Dunne, playing Easy Joe, a sleazy, busty cabaret girl that delights us with some well needed humour, along with Pollyanna Noonan’s Violet and Ben Thomas’ Billy-Ray. A flawless ensemble shoot already beautiful melodies and harmonies onto a level reserved for professional west-end productions.
A large part of the first act is spent explaining and introducing characters, and their daily struggles be it with illness, money, relationships or their parents. Everyone is hoping for something better, to realise the american dream they’ve heard about and become pioneers of a new generation – and it’s often expressed through song. Suns’ songs aren’t typical ‘sing about how I’m feeling and what I’m doing’ musical numbers, they’re about ideas, thoughts and concepts – it’s a very modern musial. A part folk-rock band, part string ensemble create wonderful, broad soundscapes and delicately accompany the cast’s impressive vocals.
The major conflicts in the plot are introduced towards the end of a very lengthy first act, but it doesn’t feel drawn out or boring, with so many gems of song, character and humour throughout. The second act feels much darker, slower and more striking than the first, as Michael and Freddy begin to lose hope. It’s these moving moments of despair and anger which will stay with you long after you’ve left Kay House.
Near the plot’s conclusion, however, the narrative seems rushed compared with the rest of the well-paced show. The climax of the show even seems under-rehearsed, given how tightly and stylishly the preceding scenes are blocked and choreographed. None of this significantly detracts from the overall experience, though, thanks to committed actors and ambitious lighting design which never lets the atmosphere drop. The bumps will surely will ironed out in future productions of this new show. By the end, we’ve been challenged with questions about family, community and identity, with an overarching themes of oppression, freedom and change.
1000 Suns is an emotionally draining, and unfalteringly exciting performance. Every subtlety in the acting, lighting, costume and score add to an evening that is enthralling, enchanting and exhausting. A must see.
*****
Directed by: Michael Smith and Joel Smith
Producers: Anita Copley and Emma Ollis
Stage Manager: Katy Dash
Costume: Cheski Granger and Sian Keen
Technical Manager: Sam House
Musical Director: Nic Craig
Vocal Coach: Nikki Wilkes
Marcus Beard
exeposedev 