From Lady Bay to Enola Gay. Tanya Raybould went along to see if she was Touched by the revival of Stephen Lowe's Nottingham-based modern classic at the Nottingham Playhouse.
Powerful and poignant, Nottingham born playwright Stephen Lowe's World War II drama Touched is set during the 100 days between VE and VJ Day, and focuses almost exclusively on a Nottingham family of working‑class women, whose lives have been left in limbo during an extraordinary time, whilst their men are putting the finishing touches to hostilities in Europe and Asia.
Set across a few terraces in Sneinton, what they are experiencing dwarfs the devastation to these women. This is always going to be a tall order in a play which is a microcosm of events that ultimately changed the world, and so initially seems to struggle to find pace.
Originally opening back on 9th June 1977 at the time of the Queens Silver Jubilee here at the Playhouse, this modern classic celebrates the 40th anniversary of its premier. The play itself is a celebration of local talent, working hard with some lengthy dialogue. Many of the cast and crew hail from the city, working to the artistic vision of Nottingham Director Matt Aston. Putting in a strong performance is Nottingham's own BAFTA Award winning Vicky McClure in one of her first major stage roles, Set in 1945, we first catch sight of her clutching a sheet as if it were a newborn whilst we hear Richard Dimbleby's famous BBC account of the liberation of Belsen and of a dying Jewish mother holding her dead baby. Jumping ahead three weeks, a set with an almost vintage dream like quality and it's Victory in Europe Day. Quietly provocative, how could these women hanging out their washing, gossiping equate with the traumas of those who did or didn't survive the concentration camps
Sandra herself has lost her child. He was a victim not of German bombs but killed in a tragic accident by a car during the blackout, Grief tears her apart, and with her husband away at war there is no possibility of another child to fill the void. Birth and life play a pivotal role in the play, sisters – the brash Joan (fellow Television Workshop graduate actor, Ashling Loftus) and naive Betty (Chloe Harris) – are brimming with hope for the future, awaiting the birth of a better age and the possibilities of a brave new world with peace in Europe and the election of the first ever Labour government , with it the promise of new lives ahead for all of them. "The world's changing. It's not going to go back to the way it was."
Sandra confesses to carrying the child of an Italian prisoner of war, holed up in a nearby camp. And, as the timeline marches towards VJ Day, the play finds its pulse and the characters become stronger, McClure's Sandra leaps out at you unawares, shifting from quiet melancholy into despair as we explore the hidden lives of ordinary women whose own grave and true feelings have been lost to history. Touched giving them the voice they deserve. Ultimately enjoyable, touchingly thought provoking.
Touched runs at the Nottingham Playhouse from Fri 17 February to Sat 4 March 2017
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