Central Hall, Edinburgh
Four stars
A community hall vibe percolates the room for this Mayday extravaganza put together by actress/director Cora Bissett and poet and playwright Hannah Lavery for the National Theatre of Scotland. This one night compendium of theatre, music and spoken word aims to be ‘Rapid Responses to Our Times’. With an election due in less than a week’s time, the rise of the far right, events in Gaza, institutionalised racism, historical revisionism and all points between are put on the frontline by way of a series of artistic responses to the volatile and divisive times we currently live in. The result is an old school political cabaret writ large.
This is kick-started in noisily unambiguous fashion by singer Declan Walsh with the punky oppositionist rage of his song, Nazi Boys, accompanied by a house band featuring guitarist Djana Gabrielle. Gabrielle later performs one of the night’s standout moments, when she sings Dala, written by the late Beldina Odenyo, aka Heir of the Cursed. As images concerning the death in 2015 of Sheku Bayoh while in police custody in Kirkcaldy are projected behind Gabrielle, the song becomes a mournful litany that honours those lost.
Equally powerful moments include Neil Bratchpiece’s performance of Michael Rosen’s poem, Mother Father Cable Street, about how Rosen’s parents met in 1936 when the people of London’s East end prevented fascist Oswald Mosley from marching. The poem’s refrain of ‘They shall not pass’ here sounds like a call to arms.
The Loud & Proud Choir demonstrate the strength of collective singing in a performance of Stonewall, Musselburgh based singer Ali Burns’ anthemic tribute to the New York gay community who rose up after a police raid on their bar.
Beyond the music, a quartet of newly commissioned bite-size plays also feature on the bill. Lavery’s piece, Patriotic Renewal, is performed by Leah Byrne and Sanjeev Kohli, and sets up a meeting between two very different party activists, one of whom is hell bent on compromise to get elected, as far right rhetoric is absorbed into the everyday. Sara Shaarawi’s Pandora and Hope sees Adura Onashile and Melody Nehme play a pair of celestial beings attempting to rein in the ongoing damage caused by their peers. This is followed by a musical setting by Melody and Camille Nehme of If I Must Die, by Palestinian writer Refaat Alareer, who was killed in Gaza in 2023 by an Israeli air strike.
Actress Dawn Sievewright closes the first half of the night with a stunning rendition of It’s No a Wean’s Choice. Penned by Bissett for Glasgow Girls, David Greig’s play about the seven teenage girls who rose up to defend their asylum seeker friends, the song sees Sievewright here accompanied by the Mothers Against Genocide Choir. Their act of hanging baby sized socks on washing lines, one for each child killed in Palestine, is a devastatingly powerful image, which gives the song renewed resonance in stunning fashion.
The second half begins with the band Soapbox’s frenetic rendition of their song, Fascist Bob. The Proposal is Uma Nadah-Rajah’s comic skit on an unfortunately timed marriage proposal in the midst of chaos, and performed by Charlene Boyd, Adam Buksh and Tyler Collins. Apphia Campbell’s The Correct Version,sees future seekers Lola Aluko and Samuela Noumtchuet visit a museum only to find American history has been redrafted and rebranded by the likes of Simon Donaldson’s revisionist guide.
One of the most affecting moments comes from Sanjeev Kohli, who performs a brief monologue about the cultural impact of playing corner shop owner Navid in sit-com phenomenon, Still Game. The packed programme also includes a response to Talat Yaqoob’s International Women’s Day speech by choreographer Janice Parker in collaboration with Women Against the Far Right Scotland.
There is poetry by Shasta Hanif Ali, Michael Mullen and William Letford, an autobiographical routine by Glasgow-Arabian trans comic storyteller Tia Rey, and a film by Jo Pagan highlighting the vital work of Gaza Infant Nutrition Alliance in supporting Palestinian mothers.
Chasing the Crowd sees Paisley born singer Kitti perform a fantastic soul pop banger with a conscience, while Kathryn Joseph breathes new life into her song, Burning of Us All, by having it accompanied by dancer Kassichana Okene-Jameson in a routine choreographed by Scottish Dance Theatre director, Joan Clevillé. Actor Reuben Joseph’s gloriously soulful performance of Robert Burns’ A Man’s A Man for A’ That, reinvents Burns for modern times.
Given the limited time Bissett and Lavery have had to pull together such a role-call of dissent under the musical direction of MJ McCarthy, and with projected visuals throughout by Lucas Chi-Peng Kao, this makes for an impressively slick spectacle. The grand finale sees the entire company join forces to perform Patti Smith’s anthem penned with her late husband Fred ‘Sonic’ Smith, People Have the Power. Accompanied by images of assorted protests both local and global, it may be an inspirational way to finish, but it’s what happens next that counts.
The Herald, May 4th 2026
ends
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