Writer: Helena Thompson
Directors: Isaac Jordan and Kiki Turner Brightman
DIY describes itself as an “interactive dramatised exhibition of the history of housing justice” which takes the audience through four significant periods in the history of housing in West London. It uses a scripted story, documentary footage, devised scenes and poetry created by the cast.
This particular showing was a preview, held in the community rooms of Trellick Tower but will also be shown at the Bush Theatre and the V&A museum. The reason for this tour is very relevant to the issues in the piece. SPID Theatre, the company behind DIY, had its own theatre underneath Kensal House, where they had performed a response to the Grenfell fire, The Burning Tower. The theatre, having raised over two million pounds to restore the space, found themselves homeless after the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council dragged their heels and the theatre was declared unsafe.
Both Trellick Tower and Kensal House are examples used in DIY of grand visionary housing projects left to decay without proper maintenance and upkeep. They were both celebrated as being the very best of modern design for convenient and decent living but have fallen away from those ideals as budget cuts and right-to-buy undercut those original ideals. DIY also looks at Henry Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor, and the Free and Independent Republic of Frestonia, a squatter’s collective who declared themselves an independent country. These four stories are fascinating and the decision to create the four locations out of a jigsaw puzzle of boxes is fun, visually interesting and in keeping with the DIY aesthetic.
Less successful is the subplot about the drama and tension amongst the performers. Newcomers to the cast, Harper and Hollis are lifelong residents of council housing who have had a decidedly rough experience of it. They bring a revolutionary fervour that the other cast members are more ambivalent about. They especially have it in for the director, Boo, who may not be as right on as he appears. He sees himself as Ken Loach, documenting society’s ills, but they see him as a tourist to their plight. This drama derails the original history of social housing, overcomplicating the dynamics of the piece and taking a lot of the air out of the room.
It’s also unfortunate that the cast isn’t quite practised enough for the interpersonal drama to really have an effect. While it should be pointed out that the cast is mostly young people, all amateur performers and have only rehearsed on Saturdays for nine weeks, it has to be noted that, at the moment, they can’t quite carry the 90-minute performance. A number are too quiet to hear. Special recognition should go to Shaggy Narendran, who makes a very confident Boo and Alisha Ariff, who sells some very melodramatic lines as Hollis.
However, DIY has time to firm up for the next two performances in the very different spaces of the Bush Theatre and the V&A Museum. The story of social housing is an important one and SPID really deserve to have their own theatre back so they can develop their young talent further.
Runs 3 February 2024 at the Bush Theatre, and 10 February 2024 at the V&A Museum
