Running With Lions, Sian Carter’s debut play, certainly embeds a deep sense of warmth, understanding and hope in exploring the challenges around mental health. Her writing is fresh and relevant to the modern world, with relatable family humour shared even during difficult conversations, whilst at the same time reflecting generational divides and different approaches to grief.
This Lyric Hammersmith and Talawa Theatre Company production first began as an audio play on BBC Radio 4 and translates excellently to the stage. The moments of humour and shock, beautifully directed by Michael Buffong, were brilliantly received by the deeply engaged and responsive audience. As Sarah Doyle, an audience member, says, "It was deeply emotional, funny and joyous." The set design by Soutra Gilmour is wonderfully woven into the play, without distracting from the focus of the acting. The revolving staircase in the scene changes moves together with the actors to reflect the continuous energy of the beating heart of the family through the piece. The simple, domestic furniture is functional, but also evocative of the past experiences in the home, especially with the presence of the record player. This is useful in encapsulating the central themes in the play: coping with grief, sharing love and the whole family dynamic. Music was an essential part in creating the heartwarming atmosphere of the family, including classic soul tracks such as ‘It’s All Right’ by The Impressions and ‘My Girl’ by The Temptations. This joy flowed freely as grandparents Shirley and Maxwell (Suzette Llwellyn and Wil Johnson) danced together, laughing and teasing each other’s moves in carefree spontaneity, even with their daughter’s difficult return home from hospital. This apparent juxtaposition echoes throughout the piece but the humour is proven to help the characters reconnect in a natural way, so that on leaving the theatre, it feels as though you have met a real family. For example, near the end Shirley jokes that her daughter Gloria (Velile Tshabalala) should fling back her engagement ring at David. Here, Tshabalala shows her character has not seen this fun side of her mother for a long time by fully releasing the laugh and this is not only shared between the characters but also with the audience. Another moment of connection with the audience was when Llewellyn comedically showed Shirley’s aim to impress other families at church by eagerly waving and smiling to imaginary characters as she sat down on the sofa, here representing the pew. Laughter continued to bubble up around the audience throughout Maxwell’s sermon as Shirley (Llewellyn) interjected fervently saying, ‘Praise the Lord!’ This worked well in emphasising the character’s pride in her faith and family. The lighting (designed Aideen Malone) worked well with the set, such as in the use of lights across the staircase and back of the stage to create a starry night effect. This also symbolically showed the dreams and aspirations that Imani (Ruby Barker) has of becoming an artist, as well as how her grandparents moved to England from the Caribbean in search of new opportunities. The vibrant colours of the character Josh’s artwork are also shown through the lighting on the staircase which reflect his expression of his emotions to great effect. Overall, this family drama playfully and maturely addresses the difficult emotions and responses in relation to grief and mental health. It also offers faith in the power of good humour and the strength of family bonds even in dark times. Therefore, it is both an entertaining and deeply meaningful performance that the audience can recognise as mirroring aspects of their own lives. ‘Running With Lions’ is on at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until 12th March.
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