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‘Everybody has got a story to tell’

Writer and director KEITH SAHA tells Len Phelan what guides the work of the hard-hitting 20 Storeys High theatre company

Like many of our more radical arts practitioners, man of many talents Keith Saha first cut his teeth at the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool some 25 years ago.

“It opened up a whole new world,” he says. “Anybody could join and there was just a whole different mix of people and it felt that we could do anything. It was also political.”

After college and “a bit of time signing on and doing other different stuff,” he got an acting job with the socialist Red Ladder theatre company, touring Asian communities in West Yorkshire.

He went on to work as a composer, writer and director and then, in 2006, he set up the 20 Storeys High theatre company with his partner and co-artistic director Julia Samuels.

It’s based in Toxteth, Liverpool, an area which still bears the scars of the 1981 riots and which seems to have been cosmetically blanked out of the city’s so-called regeneration.

Since its foundation, the company’s gone on to become an award-winning enterprise, noted for creating dynamic and challenging theatre which attracts new young audiences. It’s “passionate about pushing the boundaries of what theatre is.”

With a mix of professional productions and participation projects, 20 Storeys crosses over art forms to develop new ones, nurture new writing and involve audiences at every stage of the theatre-making process.

Its uncompromising shows have tackled issues such as young people getting banged-up in jail, being looked after by social services or living through the consequences of parental drug addiction.

Though their productions are political and challenging, they’re also playful and experimental — their unique blend of hip hop theatre, puppetry and mask is unlike anything else you’re likely to witness in mainstream theatre.

“At their heart, these plays are very real and complex human stories,” Saha says. “We wanted to make work that challenged the predominantly white middle-class elite and work within the context of cultural diversity and social inclusion.

“Our motto is: ‘Everybody’s got a story to tell and their own way of telling it.’ Our plays come from real stories, told to us directly from the young people we work with, or from our own personal experiences, and of course they throw up a whole lot of issues.”

Aimed at audiences in the 13-30 age bracket, the company works with young people and professionals, with a youth theatre, a young actors’ company and a professional touring company.

“They all feed into each other, artistically, politically and socially,” Saha says. “Young adults are our focus for many reasons, one being that arts provision for this age group hardly exists anymore.

“They aren’t getting to see theatre that is made for or by them. GCSE drama is on the decline and young people aren’t getting to express themselves through drama or music, which is why we try to have a participatory element to our national tours with workshops and post-show jams.”

The company collaborate with young people as experts in their own art forms that come from the street, Saha explains. “Rapping, MCing, beatboxing, break dancing and urban art are underground art forms which aren’t being evolved into story-telling and theatre-making and the power of bringing them together with other art forms such as puppetry and mask is transformational.”

Their new show Black, which premieres at Liverpool’s Playhouse theatre next Wednesday, deals with racism in a white working-class area of the city. There are two voices in the play — Nikki, a young white woman who has to confront her her own racial prejudices, and Precious, a young man from Zimbabwe.

“Black comes from a collection of true stories,” Saha says. “Young people we know in Liverpool have been on the sharp end of violent racist attacks and it has been reported that they are on the increase, not just in Merseyside but all over Britain and Europe.

“While it does feel like the BNP and EDL are in decline, a lot of their votes have gone to Ukip, as have votes from the other parties. The three main parties are struggling to have any coherent conversation around immigration and are also failing to challenge the far-right propaganda of Ukip, so we are in a very difficult place.”

One of the most telling and alarming pieces of feedback during the show’s pre-production has been the response from people reading the play, Saha says. “They think it is set in the 1970s or 1980s. People do not see or recognise that this is happening in 2015. It feels hidden, and not reported in the media, so the victims of these crimes go undetected and unhelped.

“The play is difficult, challenging and uncensored but is also hopeful and has humour. We are making the play to shine a light on an area that seems hidden but also to ignite a debate.”

In line with that aim, the company is working with the charitable foundation named after Anthony Walker, established after he was the victim of a racially motivated murder a decade ago, to run workshops with young people on Merseyside and nationally on the questions the play raises about hate crime.

It goes without saying that the challenging work this company is doing, in a climate where theatre is increasingly the preserve of white, public school-educated practitioners living on another planet from the rest of us, more than merits the support of Morning Star readers.

After its Liverpool run, it’ll be touring nationally, and has to be a must-see.

Black runs at the Liverpool Playhouse from January 28-31 and then tours until March 20, details: 20storieshigh.org.uk/shows

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