Bangers, Arcola Theatre, stage review: ‘With a little bit of luck, we can make it through the night’
Jim Caesar and Danusia Samal in Bangers. Photograph: Alex Brenner
Just a little before my time, the mid-nineties UK garage scene’s pulse kept pumping.
It had flooded the world of pop by the time I could walk, shake my hips and try to sneak into clubs.
The period had a dark side though, wreathed in the sexualisation of women, violence and issues of consent.
Parts of that decade have aged like a tub of single cream left out in the sun.
In steps Danusia Samal, lead actor and writer (I’m saying nothing), to rectify the situation with her play, Bangers.
This is Samal versus the late nineties/early naughties. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But Samal and director Chris Sonnex have lovingly built a rhyming, foot-tapping, part-rapping, part-dancing, park-spoken word testament to music and life.
Among the estates and “tumble weave” of London, we meet various characters played by Jim Caesar (most of the male characters and one hilarious female), with Samal picking up the rest.
They are watched over by Tanya-Loretta Dee, an almost divine DJ mixing tracks on her decks upstage and poking the characters onwards along the tale.
Samal has crafted Shakespeare in the club, a novel way to theatricalise antithetical worlds.
Our two leads struggle with sexuality, childhood trauma, and their futures – all surrounded by a range of vibrant characters.
Zoë Hurwitz’s set is, fittingly, made up of large speaker blocks, the decks, and Laura Howard’s strobing club lights.
Tanya-Loretta Dee on the decks. Photograph: Alex Brenner
Despite the lyrical use of language, we do suffer from rhyme fatigue, where the never-ending couplets obscure the story.
The demanding character-swapping also pushes the actors to their very limits.
The use of microphones for “battle arguments” sadly doesn’t quite work, as we can’t hear what either character is saying, but the feeling of confrontation is clear.
Furthermore, the original music doesn’t quite measure up to the era’s famous classics, which are rushed through in the finale.
Where the piece buzzes is its self-awareness.
Dee is especially coaxing and sassy with our wayward protagonists, keeping them to the point and forcing them into sometimes painful realisations.
“Is this my bit?” asks Caesar, or again, in an older person’s accent: “Are you trying to get us cancelled.”
There are much-needed comic boosts amidst the heavy subject matter.
Questioning how the lyrics we all grew up with frame our views and actions is a fascinating angle.
Confused plot lines and auditory blurring aside, Bangers reminds a mainly millennial audience about a space that they once loved and inhabited: the club.
But it also points out its shadows, dangers and limitations.
The takeaway is that with a little bit of luck, we can make it through the night. And if you don’t know that reference, then maybe this play’s not for you.
Bangers runs until 10 August at the Arcola Theatre.