Jaimes Lewis Moran, local Seacroft resident and writer, shares his review of our Seacroft Stories performance.
”Performed and written by a collective of young people and Fall into place theatre, this performance of Seacroft Stories talks about residents practisingtheir artform, trying their hardest, yet being distracted and disrupted by a gang of noisy motorbike riders on a regular basis. Expect singing, narrative-focused dances, and emotive stories about the impact of anti-social behaviour.
Being a local resident, I really connected with the key themes of this play; the often illegal and aggressive driving, the noise pollution on a regular basis, and concern for younger, unlicensed motorbike riders. That being said, I’m quite passionate about vintage motorcycles and stories based around them and their influence on society.
As for the audience, the majority was made up of cast members and group facilitators but the venue was pretty much packed nonetheless. Chapel-FM is a somewhat small performance venue so this is to be expected. There should be more space in the future during the next expansion phase of East Leeds FM into the sport hall next door; this will make a nice restaurant-style performance space too.
Seeing the cast walk onto stage wearing open-faced, flip-up, and BMX-style motorcycle helmets as props was quite a surprise, I found this very refreshing as it’s very rare that dramas/plays are done featuring motorcycle gear. It was equally good to see a combination of leather biker jackets and casual black coats too. The drama/play had a lot of humour, memorable music, stories of misspent youth, impressive Yorkshire dialect, and one moment of heavy metal music!
This play/drama also talked about fighting stereotypes, talking to unknown neighbours, finding community solutions to conflict, and thus building solidarity. Despite what initially appeared to be a play full of hard-hitting conflict (at least based on the advertisement leaflet) I found this performance to be optimistic and heart-warming. The small cast was a very unique one, each working to their own personal strengths, just wish there was more appearances from those ‘ruddy’ motorbikes and their riders! Really enjoyed the Seacroft-based version of Frank Sinatra’s song New York too. Great stuff, would’ve loved that as a ringtone on my smartphone! 😊
Jaimes Lewis Moran, Local Resident and Writer
To find out more about our drama workshops and community performances, check out our website: https://fallintoplace.co.uk/community-projects/
