How Did We Get to This Point - Alphabetti Theatre - Review

How did we get to this point / Wrong Place, Wrong Time 
Alphabetti Theatre 
Wednesday 7th December 2016

Alphabetti Theatre’s story is amazing and I got to hear it through different voices. If you don’t know their history, it starts in 2011 and is still going strong!!

I don’t want to spoil it for you but Ali Pritchard’s story of how he created a space for artists and the public alike is astounding, from starting out at The Dog and Parrot to a basement in Newcastle via The Edinburgh Fringe. .

The play is directed by Ben Dickenson and includes stories about homelessness and problems that come from that; the struggles that people face in those environments. Some of these I have personally experienced.

Now Ali hasn’t experienced Homelessness himself but has experience in helping people who have found themselves in that situation (one of them I know quite well). Ali has been working with the charity Crisis who’s details I will put below.

The Actors were awesome Rosie Fox, Dean Logan and Rosie Stancliffe played many different roles and all played the role of Ali at various points in the play.

The show also had Animations by Ben Walden which helped the public understand what was going on as well as Music by Haythem Mohamed which was a fantastic addition to the show and gave it another dimension, Technical Manager was Adam Goodwin who didn’t put a foot wrong.

The play left me with many questions and not many answers. I'll give you my final thoughts later after I have spoken about the second play which was a response to How Did we get to this Point. Wrong Place, Wrong Time Performed was by the brilliant Paula Penman (who reminded me of my sister in law - please don’t kill me) and written and directed by Steve Byron.

It tells the story of a girl born at what people could say was the wrong time, wrong place. Born into a family with an abusive mother and with brothers who don't give a damn, it follows her story as her life spirals out of control.

Both plays were fantastic and a joy to watch but as I mentioned before they left a lot of questions for me and the main one was why in the 21st century do we still have homeless people and why haven’t realised that we can change the world just by being nice to each other and being the change that the world needs - that together we can end the problems in the UK and even the world if we try.

This show is on till Saturday and I definitely think this is not to be missed.

Reuben Hiles

Edit: For me it was like being blasted in the face with a hand grenade! Wrong Time, Wrong Place really made me sit up and take notice. An incredible play. - Michael