The Lowry in Salford Quays is 25-years-old this year. It decided to celebrate its community outreach programme, one of the largest in the country, with a youth theatre production led by Not Too Tame, the Warrington–based company committed to working-class culture created by working-class artists, and ‘a good night out’. And it is a good night out.

I’ve written about Not Too Tame before, particularly regarding its collaboration with Shakespeare North in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Jimmy Fairhurst, Not Too Tame’s artistic director. It was a riot, in a good way. So I was looking forward to seeing what they would do with 23 young people of varying skills and abilities drawn from across the Lowry’s outreach programmes. Another riot, as it turns out, and in a very good way.

The conceit is that Salford is governed by the will of the Ancient Greek Gods and the peasants are in revolt, so the Gods Zeus (a petulant Anthony Quinlan) and Hera (a put-upon Laura Harrison who has a spectacular voice) declare a competition in three rounds. Each round will be between a chosen peasant and an opponent of the Gods’ choosing. If the peasants win at least two out of three, the Gods promise good weather, strong harvests and general good living. If they lose, well, that’s it. They will all be smited, and you really don’t want that. The competition is mediated by Hermes, messenger of the Gods, here divided into two, Hermes Alpha played enthusiastically by Jimmy Fairhurst, and his companion Hermes Beta, a sardonic if not downright sceptical Max Healy.

This is an ensemble production and it would be invidious to pick out particular performances, but I know that LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) had a representative watching, and some of the cast are certainly good enough to qualify, if they want to. That is the key thing – very few of these young people would consider a career in the acting profession, which, given how little work there is, is very sensible, but boy do they give it a good go here. Everyone was having a ball, but working very hard too. That’s the secret of theatre, and the audience gave it a standing ovation.

But what next? The Lowry had to find extra funding for this production, and they do have some youth theatre groups of varying ages who perform in the studio once a year. But this was special, special enough to make it an annual event in the Quays. Let’s hope some intelligent funding body finds a little pocket of cash. Maybe we could look forward to Not Too Tame helping them to celebrate their 26^th anniversary next year.

By Chris Wallis, Theatre Editor

Main image: Patch Dolan Photography