The Lowry’s artist development programme has resulted in the establishment of Sixth House Theatre—a new theatre company comprising six multidisciplinary artists based in Greater Manchester. Their skillset includes acting, writing, directing, dance, dubbing, puppeteers and movement direction. In view of the talents involved, LIVES, the first production from the company, is suitably ambitious in scope employing multiple techniques to tell a story that covers generations and assesses the right of humanity to survive.
The opening of the play is obscure. A Mother seems to confess to the murder of her own children, and same-sex relationships are explored in scenes set in the Victorian and Regency eras. However, things are not as they seem—a thunderous voiceover constantly criticises and raises objections to the content of the scenes, leading to the revelation they are actually evidence being put forward in an extraterrestrial courtroom debating whether humanity deserves to be saved from extinction.
LIVES plays to the strengths of Sixth House Theatre in a disciplined manner. Puppeteer Pui-ka Cheng does not contribute to the script but designs a wonderfully grotesque Judge puppet in the style of Gerald Scarfe. Choreographer Natassa Argyropoulou designs the dances and, along with Samuel Tracy, undertakes movement direction, in particular a highly disturbing brutal sex / murder sequence and a very effective tableau of the Mother being drained by her children.
Yet there remain elements of the play which show self-indulgence. The voiceovers which interrupt the opening scenes have the defensive tone of the company voicing criticism (the dialogue is unrealistic and the relevance of the scenes unclear) before it is articulated by the audience. The grab-bag costumes may be intended to illustrate an alien environment or to show the judges and lawyers have evolved beyond trivial issues like dressing conventionally but make the cast look like they are taking part in an uninspired episode of Doctor Who.
Although the play is staged in The Lowry’s intimate Studio, production values are high, in particular Gabriel Clark and Chloe Wade’s lush screen projections, bringing a sense of wonder to the conclusion.
The revelation of the identity of the plaintiff at the midpoint of the play is a surprise and helps to clarify what has gone before and build momentum for the conclusion. However, there are tentative aspects to the play. The obscurity in the play limits the success of asking the audience to participate as members of the jury, as patrons are unsure how to respond.
The programme credits the writers but does not specify a director, which may account for a lack of consistency, with the tone varying from highly stylised drama to comedy. The humour is also uneven; a pair of newsreaders signing off after announcing the imminent end of the world with "well, that’s all from us" is discreetly amusing. It is, however, followed by a sing-along music hall-style song celebrating the forthcoming apocalypse, which seems inappropriate when sung by supernatural entities debating the future of the human race.
LIVES may suffer from an abundance of riches—the company trying too hard and including so much in the production it actually limits the impact. But the play certainly serves as a vivid showcase for the diverse talents involved and a practical demonstration of the value of The Lowry’s artist development programme.