Last night we were kindly invited to the Press Showing of One Under at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The show is on until 23rd November 2019.
Perfectly placed within the intimate setting of The Door at The Rep, is this emotional, thought provoking theatre performance of Winsome Pinnocks story, One Under. Which I am not ashamed to say, had me crying in parts.
Set in London, Cyrus (Stanley J. Browne) is a Tube driver. He has a wife and two children at home and we are led to believe he has been a tube driver for a while.
Sonny (Reece Pantry) is a young man who was fostered by Nella (Shenagh Govan) when he was a young boy. He lives on an estate in London in a council flat by himself. He has a foster sister Zoe (Evelyne Oyedokun) who was also fostered by Nella, who is now married with children of her own.
The play sees Sonny who through his actions looks as though he has bipolar schizophrenia not managed by medication. He is paranoid. Believes the papers are talking about him, gang members are chasing him and he is being followed by a minder called Mr Walker. He jokes, pretends he doesn’t really believe these things when he realises he has told people and sees their reactions and with his jokey demeanour and behaviour, he manages to fool people into thinking he is okay, just joking around.
But Sonny isn’t okay. His mental health is at a low and as he goes about spending all of his money to make other people happy, he lives his last day and evening trying to make a difference to other peoples lives.
He takes the dry cleaning lady out and lavishly spends money on her, living as if he is someone else, just for that moment. He goes out and pops to his mums Nellas to dig up her garden and plant flowers. Wanting her to wake in in the morning to see a beautiful bloomed garden. But Nella awakes hearing Sonny in the garden and they talk briefly, Sonny asks for forgiveness and he leaves.
It is the last time Nella sees Sonny. He ends his life, jumping under a tram.
The play looks at the reactions from everyone involved in Sonnys life. His mum, his sister, the dry cleaning lady Christine (Clare-Louise English) and the Tube driver Cyrus. The way they behave, look for answers/clues to why it happened, try to cope and survive.
Nella says “I didn’t REALLY listen”. And she tries to play back and remember her last conversation with him. Hunting for clues.
My own brother killed himself this year and this play was like watching my own brother on the stage. The questions you ask yourself. Wanting to jump in and shake the characters and say “He is ill” all the subtle and not so subtle signs. Wanting to save the character from his ending. Wishing you had listened harder to the words that were said. Realising what certain sentences meant. But too late.
I found this play moving, emotional and what must have been very well researched.
The acting from all of the cast was brilliant. Reece Pantry as Sonny was perfect. Facial expressions, mannerisms, movements.
This is a play that will leave an impression on you. Whether you have lost someone through suicide, have or know someone who needs support with their mental health, or none of the above.
You will be thinking about this play for a long time.
Book tickets before the UK Tour of this talked about play, comes to an end.
Photos by Patrick Baldwin