‘Watchable, with a powerful message’
If you ever have lived in the west coast of Scotland, the stories will be familiar: the Orange marches, the green/blue divide, the banter bordering on abuse. ‘Cocktail: Fear, Pain, Power’, a production by community theatre group Confab, manages to combine these stories into a watchable piece with a powerful message.
This production was authentically and adorably grassroots, from the family box of biscuits passed around the audience to the eclectic group of local performers, kitted out in casual gear.
Platform in Easterhouse was the ideal venue as the cafe, collage and library form the hub for a community, which along with many others in Glasgow has probably witnessed its fair share of sectarian stories (we never did find out how or where the stories were sourced which was slightly disappointing).
The stories were cleverly threaded together under main headings, such as ‘football’ and ‘school’, and an experienced and talented narrator guided us through the 45 mins in a chatty and natural tone.
Simple and powerful
The songs had simple and powerful lyrics and the straight-forward writing addressed the community audience in a non-patronising way. A few key well-scripted moments shone as the characters ‘came out’ of the performance and linked arms with the audience.
Local nods were given with references to familiar pubs which made the serious subject matter feel personal and challenged us to take ownership of addressing the issues.
Some of the more structured choreography perhaps felt a bit out of step with the natural flow of the dialogue though. And it might have been more fitting to have a less tortured title for the piece to reflect the humour threaded throughout the work.
Despite these niggles, after seeing this emotive production, which clearly means so much to those involved, I would be hesitant to turn my back on the power of community theatre in future.
Lynn Pilkington
Cocktail will be at the Glad Cafe in Glasgow at 8pm on Thursday 5 and Saturday 7 March. More details: www.thegladcafe.co.uk
Find out more about Glasgow Women’s Library’s Mixing the Colours project. Cocktail cast member Rosie Kane will be launch the project’s conference.
