Absolute Beginners at The Lyric

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World premiere of play based on the book by Colin MacInnes

Roy Williams (Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads), Soweto Kinch (MOBO prize winner), theatre director Liam Steel (Stan Won’t Dance) and Lizzie Clachan (Shunt) join forces to create an explosively physical evocation of sexual liberalism, gang culture and racial tension, based on Colin MacInnes’ cult bestseller Absolute Beginners.

A young photographer takes a trip through the gritty and glamorous streets of West London chasing the love of his life. But behind the jazz, sex and drugs of the new age lies a simmering cauldron of racial hatred that threatens to ignite at any moment.

Set in the summer of 1958 that ended with the Notting Hill race riots, Absolute Beginners paints a vivid picture of London’s changing landscape as a new phenomenon emerges – the teenager. First published in 1959, Absolute Beginners provided a blue-print for the swinging sixties with the advent of style-conscious ‘teddy boys’ and the first wave of immigration from the West Indies. With money and time on their hands, nothing was going to stand in their way.

In a 21st century where the teenager is sometimes feared, blamed and misunderstood, Absolute Beginners is as relevant now as it was then. Liam Steel uses movement and a constantly shifting set to capture a city in transition and the energy and vitality of youth. Inspired by the abstract expressionists’ lyrical approach to painting, Clachan’s set creates a visual language that echoes the rhythm of jazz. From a Chelsea coffee bar to an apartment block in run-down Napoli to a smoky Soho jazz club, naturalistic scenes unfold within an abstract urban playground.

Featuring authentic songs from the period alongside an original score by contemporary jazz composer Soweto Kinch, Steel creates a musical world that captures 1958 while also firmly placing it in the now.

Roy Williams is one of the foremost black British playwrights of his generation whose plays include FallOut, Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads, Lift Off and Clubland (Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright Award). TV includes Offside (2002 BAFTA Award for Best Schools Drama) and Babyfather.

Liam Steel is co-artistic director of the critically acclaimed company Stan Won’t Dance. He has gained an international reputation as one of Britain’s leading physical theatre practitioners, having directed, choreographed and performed with many of the UK’s foremost physical theatre companies including Complicité, Frantic Assembly and David Glass Ensemble.

April 24, 2007