HAPPY Birthday Everyman.
This premiere is the first of three home-grown productions celebrating the theatre's 60th year.
A new enigmatic, ambitious piece of work from Everyman playwrighting graduate Joe Ward Munrow which has been six years in the making now opens the celebrations.
The unusual title befits a curious piece of storytelling. A drama that is far from the norm. What you might call an 'experimental adventure.
It has all of the much-loved and inspirational Everyman credentials since it is challenging and risky.
Former artistic trail-blazers in the 1970s and 80s like Ken Campbell threw away the rule book.
Memorable days followed at the Everyman where writers and producers have always built a solid reputation for thinking outside the box.
The Legend of Ned Ludd is typically ambitious - offering a 'whirlwind global commute' - and all in just under two hours.
It is set within one historic framework - the true story of the Luddites' protest in the nineteenth century. When the threat of machinery scared the workforces.
Now we see AI artificial intelligence as a threat. Londoner Joe , a scriptwriting lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University describes it (clearly with great affection) as a 'slightly bonkers' play.
That would certainly be your first impression when you see the Everyman colourful stage design more akin to a panto greeting the audience.
It looks like a warehouse despatch depot but with a mysterious 'machine' whirring away.
A three-strong cast play a variety of roles and have their own work cut out.
With the Luddites story as the spine, there are contemporary short stories in between taking the audience from Lagos to Liverpool, China to Hertfordshire, in different time periods.
These vignettes differ each night, so no two performances are the same, but they all analyse the impact of capitalism and globalisation on working people.
The show's other 'star', the on-stage machine randomly selects 15 scenes - from a possible prepared 256 possible versions - to be performed live each night, offering an unpredictable experience every time.
Writer Joe stresses: "It's a play about people, work and automation.
"It explores what happens when machines make decisions rather than humans.
"Full marks on their collective job appraisals to the trio of actors: Reuben Johnson (an award-winning writer and spoken word artist); Menyee Lai, who has many stage and TV credits and Liverpool actor Shaun Mason, a graduate of the Everyman’s youth theatre.
Directed by Jude Christian, The Legend of Ned Ludd will be followed by Tasha Dowd's Tell Me How it Ends in June and Martin McDonagh's black comedy The Lieutenent of Inishmore in September) marking the Everyman’s 60th year, with a special £60 deal to see all three shows.
Let the party begin . . .
VERDICT: Complex but fascinating. Four stars.
The production is on until May 11
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