As part of Nottingham’s 37 Plays festival (to commemorate the anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio), several different events have taken place across the city to champion new writing. One of these events was a script-in-hand performance of new play “When the world stood still”, by local writers Penny Shields, Lisa Wharton and Carrie Bird.
The play revolves around Lynn (Penny Shields, who surprised us all with her incredible singing voice), who is forced to shield during the Covid lockdown. The play spans the entirety of 2020 and 2021, covering major events from the first lockdown, to the roll out of the vaccine, and #Partygate. The play did an excellent job of exploring Lynn’s changing attitude towards Covid – at the beginning, she is still planning to attend her dance class and convinced that it will only last a couple of weeks, but by the end, she is wary of socialising and concerned that everywhere is opening up too quickly.
The script was written based on the journals of a real person, which makes the story even more poignant. Throughout the play, various other people contact Lynn via Facetime, allowing us to see a variety of perspectives on the lockdown. These include Helen (Anny Jennings) who becomes wrapped up in conspiracy theories about the vaccine, Patricia (Lynda Rumas) who tries to downplay the seriousness of the situation, and Mike (Peter Bone) who attempts to seduce Lynn after an argument with his wife. Lynn quickly puts Mike in his place, but this episode emphasises her loneliness, as she longs for an end to the pandemic.
Perhaps the most shocking story is that of Jaz (Yasmin Khan) who loses both her sister and brother-in-law to Covid. This makes Lynn question whether her loneliness and anxiety is even that important when people are losing their lives – it’s a difficult topic to address, but the play does this effectively.
Thankfully, the production is not all doom and gloom. Each scene is separated by popular songs with lyrics rewritten to suit the narrative, which occasionally resulted in some incredibly funny moments (particularly when Lynda appeared as Boris Johnson!). The play ends with a particularly sinister speech from Neil Brocklehurst as the personification of Covid, promising that he’ll soon be back – let’s hope this is an empty threat!
Overall, this was a very enjoyable performance, and the cast did a fantastic job. The fact that it was script-in-hand did not hamper or restrict the production in any way – there was still full costume, props and sound effects (with tech done onstage by Carrie!). An excellent way to spend a Tuesday morning.
Tom Morley, November 2023
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