Theatre Review: Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Gillian Lynne Theatre - A show that sings in its most human moments.
The cast of Standing at the Sky's Edge in the West End. Image Credit Brinkhoff-Moegenburg.
⭑⭑⭑
It’s the hope that kills you, but also what keeps you alive.
Standing at the Sky’s Edge follows 3 families across 7 decades, as they all create a home for themselves in the same apartment in the Park Hill estate in Sheffield. Set to the music of Sheffield-based musician Richard Hawley, we pull on a thread in the 1960s, and as it unravels we get to see how connected we all are - even if we don’t always know it at the start.
Family 1, whom we meet in 1960, consists of Harry (Joel Harper-Jackson) and Rose (Rachael Wooding), and a little later on their son James. Harry is quite a traditional working-class man of the time, a steel worker and proud of it, staunchly left-wing in his politics, and not particularly good at dealing with his feelings. Rose is a headstrong, powerhouse of a woman who isn’t really interested in following the traditional roles laid out for a woman at the time, keen to get out and work, to have her own identity. Their story is set against the political backdrop of post-war Britain, into and through the Thatcher years.
Family 2 we meet in 1989, and it’s made up of Grace (Sharlene Hector), her son George (Baker Mukasa), and her niece Joy (Elizabeth Ayodele). They are refugees who have found themselves housed in Sheffield. Though the place as a whole doesn’t feel particularly welcoming Joy begins to find a home within people, specifically a boy called Jimmy (Samuel Jordan) who used to live on the estate. Their story is set against the political backdrop of Liberia’s first civil war, the end of Thatcherite Britain, and a decade of intense race relations throughout the UK.
And finally we meet Poppy (Laura Pitt-Pullford). She’s moved up to Sheffield from London, one of the first to move into the newly renovated apartments for sale in Park Hill after the council sold it to contractors for £1. She’s starting a fresh new life after a difficult break-up, and her story is set against the political backdrop of Conservative austerity, Brexit, the global impact of Trump, and the steady rise of casual fascist sentiment in day-to-day politics.
The way these three stories are interwoven, quite literally happening on stage simultaneously at times, people sharing the same space, battling the same struggles, falling in and out of love and choosing to keep trying - it is within that, that this show really shines. We exist within such a fast-paced, individualistic society that it is very easy to feel we are alone, sometimes you need art like this to remind you we share so much more than that which divides us. Sometimes we need to be reminded that the people who came before us left us lessons to learn from, and what we do today can shape the future. Within these really beautiful human moments, this show sings. I would say that the way Chris Bush has written human connection is one of the most tender and heartwarming I’ve seen in a long time.
The staging is a delight. A replica of the Park Hill estate with the orchestra playing behind windows and in the hallways, one single room outlined on the stage, it is simple and yet effective. It feels communal, like the estate is as much a character as any person on that stage, and like we are for that evening a part of the estate. Despite Park Hill being Brutalist architecture and the stage design reflecting that, there is a warmth and familiarity to it that is just divine.
I wrote a little while ago about musical theatre having a problem with how it writes women. They’re either sexualised objects, total non-entities, or they exist solely for a man. Standing at the Sky’s Edge is a total breath of fresh air in this respect. The women are so well developed - and whilst love is at the heart of this show, they all are very clearly their own people, with their own hopes and dreams and characteristics. They feel well rounded, they feel real. Rachael Wooding’s Rose feels particularly lived within and fleshed out - which is likely because Rachael is one of only two cast members who have been with this show since its inception. She knows Rose inside out, and with that understanding of the woman and her motivations, she’s able to deliver an effortlessly captivating performance throughout. Her big solo number After The Rain is one of the highlights of the whole show. Lauryn Redding as Nikki is another standout, her comedic timing is beyond impeccable, and her vocals on the song Open Up Your Door are reminiscent of musicians like Raye or Amy Winehouse.
Where it falls down for me, is it feels as though this show has a bit of an identity crisis. As though it doesn’t quite know what it is, what it wants to be, or what it wants to say. Whilst the music is gorgeous, and there is not one person who doesn’t deliver those musical numbers with the heart and soul they deserve - it doesn’t feel like a musical. Whilst there are numbers that are wonderfully choreographed and contribute to the flowing of the story, there’s also a not insignificant number that are simply a person stood singing a beautiful song that doesn’t really make sense within the context of the scene that just came before. Almost as though they are simply at a tribute concert for Richard Hawley. It makes it feel at times like a play with music and not a cohesive musical.
There are also creative choices that feel odd - at one point they have members of the ensemble dancing throughout the audience. It adds visual depth for those sitting far enough back to see it, but it comes about 50 minutes into the show, they haven’t done it before that moment and it doesn’t happen again. It leaves me asking why? What did it add? It felt a gimmicky addition that wasn’t needed.
My biggest issue with it though, is its politics. I love a political piece of art - the more of them the merrier I say. And when you read the descriptions of the 3 groups we meet, it feels like all the opportunities are there for this to be a really powerful piece about the consequences of political instability, the inevitable cycles that repeat when political powers consistently disregard specific demographics, the way humanity persists within the extreme pressure cooker environment of deprivation and poverty. And there are moments of absolute brilliance - Harry gives a drunken speech about working-class gratitude and the way “it blinds you, that gratitude, teaches us to be humble, to doff our caps and thank our lucky stars for whatever crumbs we can catch”. But whilst there are moments of authentic brilliance, a lot of it feels like Chris Bush has underestimated the intelligence of her audience and is having to hold their hand through the political nature of the play. Clunky dialogue, and a narrator that reiterates the politics thus far just in case you missed it makes it feel jarring at times. But also, it feels diluted. Like they just scratch the surface of political commentary but don’t want to dive too deep so as not to alienate a middle class audience. But the thing is, these stories are fundamentally political. This show has often been called a “love letter to Sheffield” but the truth is, these stories could be seen in any council estate anywhere in this country. Because they aren’t simply Sheffield stories, they are working class stories, and those stories are deeply political. It feels as though they’ve scratched the surface of that and then shied away from saying anything too significant about it at all.
And much like the music, it doesn’t feel like it knows what it wants to be politically either. They spend all of Act 1 discussing the working class hero, the Red Wall stronghold, anti-establishment mentality, and then in Act 2 it’s as though the message is “Gentrification is good, it saved this area” - which is completely at odds with everything it said in the first Act. Perhaps this is intentional - it is briefly touched upon the fact that Sheffield had shocked the nation when it voted to Leave the EU during the Brexit referendum. 2 years earlier, Nigel Farage had launched his campaign for European Parliament in central Sheffield, looking to target disenfranchised left-wing voters and play upon their fears and frustrations. And it worked - a reminder that we might think the political divide is huge, but really it exists on a very fine line. Throughout the show we see the consequences of political instability - alcoholism, addiction, anti-social behaviour, increased violent crime. Is it intentional then that we see a swaying towards right-wing policy in the second act? Is that too being presented as a consequence, in a nod to what actually happened in Sheffield in 2016? I am unsure. Whilst it certainly could be - having a character whose dad is killed by an addict in the hallways of the estate say that it’s a win that the investment and posh new tenants mean no one is “shooting up in lifts or getting stabbed in hallways anymore” shows how subjective these issues are and how very far from clear cut - they don’t really touch on the ways gentrification is devastating to entire communities. In fact when the character of Nikki brings it up, highlights the way the previous tenants were made homeless, asks why the investment was never found until there was a chance to sell the apartments to the middle class, she is laughed at. And it’s not done in a way where the people laughing are the butt of the joke, she is just laughed at. If it is intentional, it’s one incredibly clever piece of writing, but if it isn’t then the takeaway is… gentrification is good, just have an open mind. And that sits uncomfortably within a show that is supposedly championing the working class.
This is one of the hardest reviews I have ever written, because there is so much right about this show, but there’s also so much that just doesn’t quite work for me. Ultimately I think this show is about life in all its confusing contradictions and love persevering regardless. And it is not perfect, there’s plenty that could be better but it is also delightful and devastating, filled with love and filled with pain, it makes you laugh and it makes you cry - and what is that if not life?
Standing at the Sky’s Edge is now playing an open-ended run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Tickets are available here. (A note to access patrons, please do read the accessibility information because this theatre is not one to just turn up to and hope you figure it out if you have any mobility issues.)