Yellowhouse
Extremes
13.8.13
The entrance
Yellowhouse -
Liverpool
Links:
There is
nothing worse than a bully. Someone who
goes out of their way to make someone feel bad, isolate them and make their
life a misery. Society likes to categorise people and put them into boxes and
if that person does not fit into a certain category they seem to try and force
the issue for some reason. Mainly it is about control.
‘Extremes’ hit on this subject and left its
harrowing in print as the night wore on. How newspaper articles were dismissed,
making out it was the fault of the victim and thus making that person feel even
more isolated then before.
As we all lined
up to enter the room – a guy dressed in white lay down on the floor outside –
nobody understood why and nobody questioned this.
Done in a subdued
lighting the atmosphere was quite intense. A woman sat on the far left hand
side of the stage turning the handle on a grinder, its eerie squeaks could be
clearly heard over the footsteps of the gathering crowd who were taking their
seats and settling into the room.
The Authoritarian Grinder
There was a
small screen at the right hand side of the stage and a short film in which a
mass of workers all dressed the same moved slowly towards a lift that took them
down to the darkest levels in order for them to do ‘their work’ the words were
in German giving the impression of what the Jews faced in their struggle during
the war.
A young boy sat on a stool on the far right of the stage still not uttering a word and wearing all white attire.
Bennu
The authoritarian
grinder rose from her wooden chair and banged a large black stick very loudly
on the floor and told everyone to sit up straight and inspected everyone in
turn to which everyone obeyed without question and then in quite a condescending
voice said ‘It would do!’ she then went over and put a large white plastic cloak
around Bennu’s shoulders and sat down and carried on grinding. Bennu did not utter one word.
Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
We were to
learn quite early on that his name was Bennu. (“The Bennu is an ancient
Egyptian deity linked with the sun, creation, and rebirth. It may have been the
inspiration for the phoenix in Greek mythology”)
The Bennu Bird
as he did not want his real
name being used. George wrote Bennu on the plastic cloak.
George – ushered the words “When I click my fingers you will be in
another world” He clicked his fingers, there was deathly silence in the room.
Bennu stood up
and then lay across the stage and one by one a group of boys and girls appeared
from behind a yellow curtain and surrounded him, sat on him and rested their
feet on him, a few seconds later the woman stood up and banged a large black
stick again very loudly on the floor making everyone jump. ‘No, move away,
hurry up, all of you, quickly” she remarked.
They all silently did as they were told.
Then the group
re-appeared and stood opposite each other making noises like a machine and as
one person went through it, the authoritarian figure pushed them through the
makeshift doors with her stick.
Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
The words normal were issued and the person
passed through, it was only when Steph went through that the machine that it
threw up the words ‘malfunction’ (Steph has for part of her life had worn iron callipers
that were screwed into her legs, now rid of the devices she walks with a slight
limp but has worked extremely hard to cope with her disability) so it was
harrowing to hear the words as she passed through the doors – ‘malfunction’ –
it caused my eyes to water somewhat and the feeling of anger went through me,
it still does as I think of it now.
The thought of
someone coming through hardship and feeling a lot more confident had now been
labelled as ‘dodgy goods’ and no doubt brought her back to a dark place that she
would rather forget.
What made this
more difficult to watch and may seem simple enough to a lot if not most people
was Steph putting on her trousers and boots in front of the audience. Her
attire had been laid out on the stage, and done I think, in order to humiliate
her even further, it made me squirm, in fact it made me feel angry and nauseous,
but she did it – by now I could no longer hold back the tears – it was a very
moving part of Extremes to witness
this.
As they cleared
the stage George appeared and it seemed he was the guiding guru for Bennu and
he comforted him, showing support.
Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
After that two
male figures a (politician and a teacher) took to the stage bringing with them
a chair each and began to speak about Bennu and what society could do in order
for him to be ‘categorized’ the SS was mentioned and it was decided he should
be placed in that category in order to ‘help’ him.
Politician and Teacher
As they left
the stage two girls (Sarah and Steph) then appeared with chairs and sat facing the audience. They never said anything you could clearly
determine but rather whispered things, giggled and smirked during the whole
time they were there... How that struck a nerve when at school, it was most
unnerving and made everyone feel very uncomfortable, just as it was designed to
do.
The Whisperers
Guru George
added his words of wisdom to the proceedings and then quickly left the stage.
More doom and gloom
He was replaced
by Mark – Mark suffers with Asperger’s and told us of the countless times he
was ridiculed at school and tormented, sparking anger from the audience, be it
silently, but it was all too clear you could feel it, as he laid his life bare to
everyone and you could not help but see the guy underneath the disability as
being kind, compassionate and very intelligent.
Why the bullies never saw this in him was because they were too full of
their own self-importance to notice and anything they do not understand will
always be met with hostility and ridicule.
Mark enlightens us with his story
The group
appeared and surrounded Bennu their actions were clear they were attacking him fists
were raised and Bennu was on the ground. Gary wrote the words ‘Lonely’ on the
white plastic cloak around Bennu’s shoulders, this was only the start, for
through-out the play more words were added, ‘Failure’ ‘Weak’ ‘Depressed’ ...
Gary marking Bennu
The
authoritarian woman banged her deadly stick once more and asked us to look
around to see if we could see number 1.
I had no idea what she meant, but it turned out there was a brown
envelope on a bit of string and one of the members of the audience handed it to
her. It had 'To whom it may concern written on it' She opened it and sneered at the contents, which was a newspaper cutting
and remarked it was total trivia or words to that effect and threw it on the
floor and went and sat back down grinding once more.
Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
Guru George
entered and picked up the newspaper cutting – he read snippets from it,
containing distressing news regarding girls being used for sex and of course
the media trying to offload the blame on to its victims as per usual. The backdrop behind the curtain had the outline of a single female hunched over crying.
Despair
After George
left the stage Mark re-appeared the backdrop behind the yellow curtain were the
shadows of three female forms and Mark then went on to tell us about three
girls who were too upset to speak of their own agonising stories – he called
them the ‘Three Musketeers’ and how they were picked on at school and how it
made them feel worthless and a failure in society. It was all very disturbing and touched a raw
nerve with immediate effect.
The Three Musketeers
As Mark left
the stage the two males that had previously appeared, yes, the politician and
the teacher) entered once more, again with chairs and spoke about Bennu asking
how he had got on in the SS category, but it was not good news – Bennu had not
settled down, he was rebelling, he was not taking his medication and so they
decided to put him in the CCC category and left the stage once more.
Politician and Teacher plotting against Bennu
Then the two
girls were back sitting opposite the stage giggling, smirking and sneering at
the audience and whispering about them – again making everyone feel rather
uncomfortable.
As soon as they
had left Steph appeared her tiny frame surrounded by the shadows of the subdued
lighting, spoke of her ordeal – again bullies had reared their ugly heads and
made her already difficult situation a lot more troublesome.
Steph telling her story
As Steph left
the stage the authoritarian was back to banging her stick and asking the
audience to look for number 2 and again her condescending remarks hit hard, dismissing what was written on the newspaper cutting and threw it on the floor
like it was soiling her hands.
Grinder - Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
Guru George
returned and picked up the cutting and read the distressful news and walked off
stage leaving us to ponder his words.
Then they all
appeared on stage as a group and held their hands out palm upwards towards
Bennu and after a few minutes the authoritarian figure loomed into view and
told them all to, quickly move and hurry along. Gary stayed behind and wrote
something on the plastic cloak ‘weak’
Guru George
appeared soon after and tried to let Bennu know he must not give up the fight
and remain strong.
The guide showing Bennu the way
It wasn’t long
before the two male figures were back deciding on Bennu’s fate as he had still
not slotted into the CCC category and now there was only one solution left the
FS uncategorized – Mark asked “What is this?” and the other replied it stands
for the ‘Final Solution’ We will take care of Bennu. This was rather unsettling for the audience
to hear. Were they really going to kill Bennu?
The group
appeared again and stretched out their hands towards Bennu and as they were
ushered away again by the hand of authority Gary wrote yet another word on the
plastic cloak which was by now covered in words such as ‘failure’ ‘lonely’ ‘depressed’
‘weak’ all designed to isolate their victim which of course it did.
The outstretched hands
Mark came back
on stage and told us of further tales about his life and the girl’s lives under
the irritating hand of the bullies who obviously had no concept of how it
feels themselves to suffer such unpleasant things.
The group
returned again and leaned towards Bennu placing their hands on him and Gary
wrote ‘Loved’ on the cloak. The group appeared again and were all in pairs
showing love and support towards each other – however it was not long before the
cruel hand of fate with her big stick appeared again and ordered them to move
on.
Loved
Steph then
entered the stage and sat on a chair with the words behind her ‘Achievement’
the group surrounded her and raised the chair – showing what people can do if
they work together, she spoke of the acceptance like she and so many others
that have attended at Yellowhouse
under a loving, caring environment, where everyone can be themselves without
fear or prejudice, and where they do not have to wear a mask rendering them
faceless sheep of society and this has always been the case at Yellowhouse where each individual has
the right to express themselves freely and thus achieving endless goals, all
spurred on by the guiding hand of George McKane, the founder of this amazing
group and helped by his loving wife Gosia.
Achievement - working together
Achievement - we can do this
Achievement - Goal Reached
Gary wrote ‘Saved’
on the white cloak around Bennu’s shoulders. Then the politician appeared without
the teacher and put an arm around Bennu – the audience were, I think, unsure of
what would happen here, since the mention of the FS and how it would reflect on
Bennu – the words ‘we will help you’ ushered forth from the politician’s lips and
then with a shove of his hand Bennu was pushed to the ground and lay on the
floor as the male figure disregarded him and walked off stage.
Beware the Politician
Is this the end for poor Bennu?
Guru George
appeared and gave us more words of wisdom to think about and then the group
appeared from the back of the room and in soft tones ushered “Bennu it was only
a dream!” they all came up to him, as he lay on the floor, Steph cradling his
head in her lap and each whispered in turn “It was only a dream!” Bennu rose up
and for the first time found his voice and spoke with anger wrenching the cloak
of words from his body and screwing it into a ball announced “This is what I
think of the system!” and threw it to the back of the room – Bennu had indeed
been saved and was loved.
Bennu it was only a dream!
Finally accepted - and loved!
A touching
moment at the end of this play was Gosia handing a large sunflower to George
and George saying “I may be the sunflower, but Gosia is the sun that makes me
grow!” We all indeed need the sun to make us grow, but we all need encouragement
and support in order to truly blossom.
The Group - Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
To Sum up:
For some, this
is not ‘just’ a story, it is a real life daily struggle from society and the
nasty people who reside within it, causing havoc and extreme misery wherever they
go with their cruel words and sometimes deadly actions. Personally I doubt whether bullying will ever
cease as the perpetrators like to hide behind authority – they are indeed the
cowards – they do not understand what it is like to be different and carry on
their miserable lives like sheep, following mainstream society rigidly until
something in their lives happens, to make them think differently, but of course the damage
has already been done. Through thinking
differently about things a lot can be achieved, but these bullies cannot think
as individuals they just follow blindly because they think it gives them some
form of power over their victim, when in fact it just shows what weak
characters they really are, that they want to make someone feel bad about
themselves in order to try and look ‘big’ themselves.
Ideas coming together - Photo courtesy of Yellowhouse
Nobody is
perfect in this world, we all have flaws and faults, but you do have a choice.
You can help and support the people around you when they need it, or you can
join the ranks of the sheep and hide behind your puppet masters – only you can
decide where you are going and what you do with your lives.
This play
really opened my eyes, it made me realise that I have been handling my own
demons the wrong way and I now have a new path to follow. I shall handle things differently as and when
any problem arises and use ‘Extremes’
as my guide – it has been a good wake-up call.
Thank you to
everyone at Yellowhouse for bringing
to the forefront a very thought provoking and indeed harsh brush with reality
that sadly so many people are facing on a daily basis, but instead of ignoring
it have brought together a loving environment in which each individual can
flourish and bring together new and uplifting ideas that not only help, but
bring confidence back to the people who need it the most and spur them on to make good with
their lives.
Yellowhouse truly does bring power, truth, honesty
and creativity to the forefront and work it into everything they create. Well
done Yellowhouse a stunning, hard
hitting performance that will remain with me for a very long time to come.
Members:
George McKane
Mark James Craven
Peter Higham
Gary Parr
Caitlin Wallace
Steph Harrison
Julie Hine
Lesley
Sarah Rowe
Steph Bracken
Yahya Baggash
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