Woodhill

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Woodhill is a brand new dance theatre piece created using verbatim text which examines the crisis which engulf the UK's prison system by looking from the view of the families of the prisoners who tragically died within the titular HMP Woodhill. Woodhill is a co-production between LUNG theatre and the North Wall Arts Centre and runs until the 28th August at Summerhall's Main Hall in Edinburgh, it returns locally to Oxford at the North Wall later this year following a short stint at Shoreditch Town Hall.

This is a deeply tragic piece that is entirely unflinching in its portrayal of the horrors that forced these men to take their own lives. This piece of verbatim theatre is incredibly important and is able to give the families affected by these tragedies a voice.

Initially this show wasn’t necessarily for me, I will be honest and say that I am not always a big fan of physical theatre shows without direct dialogue from the actors on stage, but this piece of theatre changed my mind completely, it was hugely powerful and emotive and as an audience member I felt fortunate to be there to hear these often tragically forgotten stories told.

As a physical theatre piece, this show almost relies entirely on the choreography by Alexzandra Sarmiento which is sensational and as a reasonably long show for the Fringe, this choreography grips the audience from the moments the lights go down and never once falters. This is also thanks to the small cast who are already carrying out these movements from the moment the audience are let into the auditorium, this cast is consisted of four members, Tyler Brazao, Chris Otim, Miah Robinson and Marina Climent. It is impossible to single any of these four out given the ensemble nature of the piece, but in moments, their movements are almost hypnotic, drawing the audience in and not letting go of them.

I must also mention the creative contributions to this piece which help bring it together, Lulu Tam’s set effectively transports the audience into the piece with shelves stacked with boxes representing the belongings of the prisoners, helping to highlight their dehumanisation as it is established early in the piece that these prisoners are not a name but a number in the system. The set design pairs brilliantly with Will Monk’s lighting design which allows for these voices to be held in the spotlight.

I highly recommend this show to anyone, it is not an easy evening at the theatre, but it is one everyone should witness to make sure these tragedies continue to be spoken of. If you see the show, please make sure you are aware of the content warnings in place.