Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Four stars
There has already been one stage play and a major documentary in the last six months about what happened on Kenmure Street on Glasgow’s South Side one sunny day in 2021. That was when UK Home Office officials attempted to remove two men from their homes.
Presumably these tactics would have seen the men detained and ultimately deported, never to set foot on Glasgow soil again. History, on the other hand, had other plans. As we know, a spontaneous show of strength that began on the men’s doorstep ended with an entire community standing up to protect its own.
Katharine Williams’s new play for RUPTURE Theatre Company and Company of Wolves tells all this through the words and actions of three performers who become a kind of Greek chorus of locals bearing witness. They do this in-between being on the frontline of the action, be it as protestors, policemen, or the woman watching from her window who finally comes down to take part.
Ewan Downie’s production taps into the mythological scale of the story as actors Umar Butt, Leticia Sánchez and Adam Tompa speak directly to the audience from the start. Rather than declaim or polemicise, they relay what happened that day with a stately calm that is not without wit.
Throughout the play’s 70-minute duration, the trio line up in front of designer Alisa Kalyanova’s magnificent cut-out of Kenmure Street. A carnivalesque atmosphere is ramped up by some energetic shape throwing pulsed by John Biddle's electronic score. As the drama of the day increases, real life images are projected onto the set as crucial voices are heard.
Developed with members of the Pollokshields community, beyond the mass euphoria at how things end, Williams’ play channels the mixed emotions of those who were caught up in events as the world watched. Kenmure Street may be quiet again now, but the history it helped make as presented here means it will likely never be the same again.
The Herald, October 17th 2026
ends
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