REVIEW: “Steel” at Sheffield Crucible Theatre

One of the most striking aspects of this new play by CHRIS BUSH is how coherent it is. For a play in which the cast of two each play two different characters in scenes set thirty years apart there is a satisfying absence of uncertainty or muddle.

The dual strands of story are united by one city (Sheffield in all but name) and the ongoing challenges which face Black women who become active in Labour politics. There are glimpses of how things have altered for women over the past three decades but there are even more reminders of how little there has been in the way of meaningful change.

Steelworker Josie Kirkwood takes a lot of persuading in 1988 that she could be the right candidate in the local council elections. By contrast in 2018 Vanessa Gallacher seems to take her suitability to running for the city’s Metro Mayor as a given. She was an MP until recently after all.

It is the function of men, white men, either to encourage (1988) or discourage these women as Election Officer Ian Darwent does in 2018. Ian believes Vanessa’s long term vision for the economic future of the city will alienate a working class Labour electorate still clinging to an industrial past. When raising the ghost of Margaret Thatcher fails to put Vanessa off he obsesses instead over a private sexual relationship in her past. True to the ways of today he is careful not to mention her colour. So careful that it almost becomes a backdrop.

In the Eighties nobody was so devious and the racism faced by Josie is more upfront. It is not only the insults or a vile message on a brick thrown through the window of her parents’ shop. Some voters might not think she is ‘local’ enough, she is warned by Dai. He is Welsh as can be in this Yorkshire city but clearly welcomed as ‘local’ because he is not a woman of colour!

Chris Bush writes sharply and in a moving way about all of this but her script is full of natural withering humour too. It is a gift to the actors and REBECCA FRECKNALL has cast them so well. REBECCA SCROGGS has evidently thought through every stance, gesture and inflection and how these fit with both characters. The result feels like two wholly different women are on the stage. A Josie stiff with responsibility and nerves. A Vanessa who (initially at least) treads the faultline between manufactured public perceptions and genuine intentions with depressing ease. A remarkable achievement.

As Dai and as Ian NIGEL BETTS conveys a shatteringly selfish male entitlement that each character conceals in unique ways. Both deceptions are surprising because the illusions that the men create are so convincing. This is a credit to Betts and to the characters he inhabits. The bitter taste it leaves is all too common, all too real.

Everything about this production is tight in its focus and loose in its naturalism. MADELEINE GIRLING’s unchanging meeting hall set conjures up a dusty chill in both centuries. The hit songs by Sheffield bands from each era are a neat touch but not really needed when the switches between now and then are so well indicated by the talents of the writer and cast.

These are two personal stories welded together across the years into a satisfying whole. Chris Bush asks important but uncomfortable questions of the audience. How well can one person represent a whole community? Who should do this and at what personal cost? And how effective can increased opportunities for Black women be while the entitled attitudes of white men persist?

Written by: Chris Bush

Directed by: Rebecca Frecknall

Cast:
Rebecca Scroggs (Vanessa/Josie)

Nigel Betts (Ian/Dai)