Review: A MANCHESTER ANTHEM, VAULT Festival
A snapshot of class divide that doubles as a melancholic love letter to the city.
And on the sixth day, God created Manchester. The iconic mosaic in the Northern Quarter has become emblematic. It's proudly displayed among loud synths and a vibrant nightlife in Nick Dawkins' precise social commentary that doubles as a melancholic love letter to the city. Tommy has been accepted into Oxford to study law. The first in his family to go to university, but also the first on his street.
We observe him on his last Saturday before he moves south to join the same people he's despised all along. His mum leaves him loving notes between shifts as a nurse; his brother's drug problem looms large on his perception of the world; and he doesn't like to talk about his dad. Directed by Charlie Norburn, A Manchester Anthem is infused with music and bad dancing, a snapshot of a class divide as deep as the pockets of Tommy's circumstantial posh mates.
An endearing, profound delivery by Tom Claxton introduces a deeply good young man whose struggles have centred around an undervalued society. A scholarship to a private school gave him an excellent education that carried him to Oxford, but he is now faced with leaving everything and everyone he loves behind to follow his rich classmates.
Claxton fights back the seemingly inevitable upspeak that comes from direct address, but Dawkins' deadpan backhanded comedy is effective and energises the text. He owns the space with limber command, toying with the tone of the script with the natural ease of a promising actor.
Anna Niamh Gorman sets the scene with Manchester's distinctive features on cardboard boxes in a well-executed exercise in visual minimalism. We're constantly reminded that Tommy's destiny is to leave.
The rumbles of Waterloo Station don't really suit the depth of the production, so the silences and contemplative sobriety of certain points get lost but will resonate better on a quieter stage. The fact that it remains a striking project that transcends its location is a testament to the company. We'll hear of this creative team for years to come.
A Manchester Anthem runs at VAULT Festival until 3 February.
From This Author - Cindy Marcolina
Italian export. Member of the Critics' Circle (Drama). Also a script reader and huge supporter of new work. Twitter: @Cindy_Marcolina
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