Poles Apart at Rich Mix

Poles Apart was an excellent theatrical experience on Saturday evening.

Our little group arrived at Rich Mix with just enough time to round up a few drinks and settle into seats before Polish tunes heralded the start of the show.

It was Hardgraft's presentation of Mark Whiteley and Daniel Hoffmann-Gill describing their reverse immigration experiences as two Brits seeking work in Poland. A 2000 or so mile job hunt adventure from Oldham to Warsaw mirrored the journey that thousands of Polish people have made to the United Kingdom.

And what a trip! Dan's defective car stranded him somewhere in France calling upon Wizzair (Yup, its real) to get them to what proved to be an almost job-free zone.

The action was cleverly constructed and whilst engaging and downright funny, there was a strong back story and narrative throughout. Amongst the humour was much poignant description of the European relationship to Poland, through terrible war years and including the horrors of Nazi and Russian occupation. War, Genocide, Poverty, Expatriation. All topics were handled and in a way that fully and sometimes literally engaged the audience.

What also came through was a genuine delight and positivity about the Polish people that Mark and Dan had met. They may have found it tough to get work with their badly written letters of introduction and stuttery speech, but they commented positively on the people they had met, their kindness and sense of humour.

They also described the feelings they found as two people isolated as non-workers outside of a community and the inevitable arguments and stress between them that this created.

Both players were strong performers and able to move into improvisation, whether with volunteers on stage or handling unexpected questions from the audience during some of the interactions. The set was minimal but effective and the two actors filled the stage with a confident presence and a wealth of moves that also ensured no slowing of pace throughout the entire show.

There were some additional scenes woven in to this performance, which reminded me of the cut-aways sometimes in Lorca or Brecht, to add side bar commentary. Recent UK immigration developments with election of MEPs from the BNP drove the points being made, involving a variety of denial scenes with musical accompaniment. Funny, but in that bitter sweet way reminiscent of 1930s German burlesque.

I was impressed with this show. Two fellahs on stage dressed in suits and white trackies, wouldn't always work, but here the performance skills, the foundation storyline and agenda as well as a willingness to go 'off-sausage' during the performance kept us all entertained throughout.

Well done and thank you.

Poles Apart from Hard Graft Theatre on Vimeo.