Guest Blog: Darren Pritchard on RENT PARTY

Rent Parties: the originals, back in Harlem in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, were thrown by African-American, working-class folks - railway workers, maids, elevator operators and more - struggling with rents kept artificially high because of their race, and wages kept artificially low - because of their race.

Their solution? Invite all their talented friends over, get them to entertain paying guests, charge a bit extra for food and drink - then use the takings to pay that month's rent. They were wild, exuberant celebrations of survival despite the odds.

Things haven't changed that much since: listen to this US National Public Radio story on today's Rent Parties.

For Rent Party - part-show, part-party - I wanted to create a production that was distinctly black, British, working-class and gay. In theatre, unfortunately, these stories are rarely heard and remain underrepresented on the UK theatre scene.

Actors such as Dame Julie Walters to David Morrissey have voiced concerns about a lack of working-class actors. Numerous articles have also been written on the diversity problem in theatre. As a working-class, mixed-heritage gay male, this show was a perfect opportunity to put a different voice in the mix.

In keeping with the original rent parties, all the performers in the show are black or dual heritage, who sing, dance and act throughout the show to entertain the partygoers.

A theatre company for whom I have huge respect and with whom I've worked very closely, Quarantine, have a philosophy of creating their shows starting with the people in the room. I made sure I had brilliant, charismatic, talented people in the room.

For Rent Party, starting with the people in the room showed the truth of the old saying "You couldn't make it up". The personal is political: in this show, as the cast shared stories from their own lives, working with co-writer Cheryl Martin and with me. Those stories were funny, sad, poignant, dramatic and relatable. There are no actors in the show: people play themselves, and their lives shape the show.

It was important to me to reflect the communities that the cast came from, for a more authentic experience. The performers had a lot of creative freedom: picking songs in the show as well as their own costumes, and even helping to shape the show's structure. It was a very collaborative process, but don't get it twisted - I always had final say.

One aim for me artistically was to redefine what a musical can be and how it can be experienced. As an alternative Christmas show it's a risk, but I feel that's what we should be doing in theatre: pushing audiences to try new things and pushing ourselves as practitioners. In theatre we are the dreamers, creative and risk-takers. In my work, I never play it safe.

In everything from the way we marketed the show, to the way I chose the performers, to the way I worked in the rehearsal room, I tried to take risks, since a show is so much more than what you see on stage.

Rent Party is a joyous celebration of what we as humans can achieve even when life deals us a bad hand. It's a story of survival, and we ask the audience to come celebrate and party with us.

Rent Party is on at Sheffield Theatres to 23 December.

Photo Credit: Fotocad

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