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ED2012 1/5 Reviews ED2012 Theatre Reviews
How To Start A Riot (Worklight Theatre)
By Lewis Wade | Published on Saturday 18 August 2012
The purpose of this show was to deconstruct the UK riots of August 2011, and it failed at almost every turn. The sociological analysis reached obvious conclusions while failing to answer its own questions regarding crowd psychology. The riots in question were naively treated as a new and unique problem, but the use of old examples (such as the Poll Tax Riots) managed to quickly undermine this argument. The mix of acting and lecturing was uneasy throughout and added to the incomprehensibility (while the dark staging made an ironically apt set for such muddy logistics). The slam-style poem at the end was an engaging take on political rhetoric, but it was too little, too late.
theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall, 1-25 Aug (not 7, 12, 19), 7.05pm.
tw rating 1/5 | [Lewis Wade]