Review: Rent Party at Crucible Studio, Sheffield

It is difficult to define Rent Party – and everyone involved will probably be delighted at that statement. It is part cabaret, part political polemic. It has several good gags and many witty observations, cut with several passages of bony analytical precision. It’s a therapeutic exercise, on behalf of the cast, but also for the audience, who are closely involved from the first moment. And it is short – just over an hour, unless you care to stay on and chat with the performers and the creatives.

The idea is that we are in a replication of a show staged by gifted artistes who each demonstrate their abilities and who then request the audience to reward them accordingly. Such events were, apparently, quite common at one point, with many a would-be talent encouraged by the money donated. And where that did that cash go? To pay the rent. It would be safe to say that everyone in the seats around the stage floor last night were in awe of what they saw and experienced – Stuart Bowden, Kamille Gordon, Lenai Russell, Jason Guest, and A J LeRoy have complete control, a blend of compassionate chuckles, trenchant commentary, and unique stories. You get their life history, their experiences, and then they do their stuff.

Everyone will have her or his favourite. For me, it has to be the extraordinary Mr Guest, who gives us a tale about love, abandonment, and a revival of self-confidence, while combining pathos with amazing dexterity on a pair of roller skates. And, when you are over six feet tall, dressed entirely in black with an avalanche of sequins, believe me, it is quite something. Vocally, the evening is top notch, as an observation on the nation today, it hits the bullseye every time.

The message must be that you can fill someone’s stomach, or pay their rent and honestly deliver their benefits on time, and only then can you talk to them about morality and responsibility. This piece should not be missed by anyone out there who is in any way interested in hearing the fundamental problems of existence in the UK today discussed in the theatre. In the context of our present prosperity and our (for many) profligate tendencies at this time of the year, they may appear irrelevant. They are still cruelly relevant to uncounted numbers in the society in which we live.

To December 23.