Razed Roof’s new show, which I saw at the Harlow Playhouse, is about the Lusitania, a big passenger boat that travelled from New York to Liverpool during the First World War It was carrying bombs without the passengers knowing. And was sunk by a German U boast with a huge loss of life.
Razed Roof is an inclusive theatre company of learning disabled and non-disabled actors. As always the acting was excellent but the staging made it hard to feel I was on a big grand boat. The performance took place in the main theatre and the big stage meant that there was room for some great dance routines. These were used to show the difference between the posh passengers with their slow elegance and the passengers down below with their fast and lively moves.
I really liked the bits where the German, American and British characters were arguing about whose fault it was that the boat was carrying bombs. I like some of the fine details such as a passenger reading from her diary and the jokey sections were really funny.
There were some very touching moments where a child found her parents among the bodies and when we saw two of the survivors meet up in later years – the child who was now a young woman and her now old nanny, with the young woman surrounded by her children.
Sarah Watson