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Crisis? What Crisis? - An immersive alternate 1979
- Thread starter Meadow
- Start date
- Location
- Coventry
I used it and got a discount of...
£4.20.
...
What was Harold Wilson putting in his pipe?
Walpurgisnacht
It was in the Year of Maximum Danger
- Location
- Banned from the forum
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Agent Lavenrudda
- Location
- Coventry
And that's the train tickets booked 
.
.- Pronouns
- He/Him
And that's the train tickets booked
Good luck, I hear none of them are running because the RMT is on strike all the time
- Location
- New Amsterdam
Speaking of which, I’m trying to arrange a train to London to see the show in early December but because the entirety of France is going to be on strike starting December 5, I’m probably gonna have to take a 12-hour bus ride.
Just got a very belated like for this post from Skinny, which makes me think he’s actually going to bomb the strikers
He's gotta play hardball.
Walpurgisnacht
It was in the Year of Maximum Danger
- Location
- Banned from the forum
- Pronouns
- He/Him
C'mon, it's Skinny we're talking about! He'd never bomb anyone!
He'll send in tanks.
- Location
- Balham
- Pronouns
- he/him
It's paywalled, but we've had a tremendous 5* review from the [checks notes] Brexit editor of the Telegraph.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre...-factory-london-review-brilliant-way-immerse/
Full text:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre...-factory-london-review-brilliant-way-immerse/
Full text:
Crisis? What Crisis? Colab Factory London, review: a brilliant way to immerse yourself in the Winter of Discontent
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Horse-trading: Asa Bennett (second from right) with cast and audience members at Crisis? What Crisis? CREDIT: JEFF GILBERT
13 NOVEMBER 2019 • 3:17PM
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Anyone who saw James Graham's This House will be already familiar with the manic efforts in the corridors of power to keep Labour in office, culminating in the 1979 vote of no confidence in the government of James Callaghan. But now Parabolic Theatre has worked out how to make the same period even more engrossing by inviting the audience to play the part of party apparatchiks working maniacally to keep everything in order.
The action takes place in a large hall, decked out with great attention to historical detail, such as the TV in the middle playing clips from Britain’s Winter of Discontent and another monitor displaying the news via Ceefax. Then there are the Seventies-era Labour membership cards we were handed on arrival to get us in the zone.
Crisis? What Crisis? asks attendees to tackle a series of political problems, ranging from striking deals with union leaders to working out what baubles to chuck at MPs to guarantee their support - and how to pay for it all. Actors kept proceedings moving at pace as troublesome union leaders, nosy reporters and government officials, while others played the MPs we would have to win around.
There was a lot in the government’s in-tray at the time, so we had to keep in check strike-happy unions, the risk of riots and the threat of economic collapse. Without a working majority in Parliament, the grand finale required us to work out how to stop the Tories moving in for the kill by thwarting their vote of no confidence.
Quickly, events descended into farce - with audience members just as responsible for this as the cast. As soon as the first union leader has threatened to lead his members out on strike, my comrades tasked with averting that had placated him with a whopping 29 per cent pay rise for his staff - to the frustration of the others tasked with coming up with ways to sell this to the press. More gifts soon followed as other union chiefs were bought off with sweetheart deals including a peerage. Meanwhile, rampant inflation forced those looking after the books to launch a fire sale. It was decided that Gibraltar would have to be flogged off, with the Falklands returned to Argentina amid nationalisations galore to steady the ship.
By the time we had finished haggling with MPs, Plaid Cymru had been bought around with a Welsh-language TV station, I had promised Kenneth Clarke his own law banning future referendums on Europe (appealing to his belief that the question had been settled in 1975) and my comrades had persuaded a few other Tories to abstain by threatening to reveal their private misdemeanours to the press. We were learning the dark arts of politics fast.
The end result was that we ensured Labour survived by several votes, rather than it losing by one vote - as it did 40 years ago - and paving the way for its defeat to Thatcher in the ensuing election. But to do that, we had to throw out an absurd amount of bribes to ensure the Callaghan government hobbled on a bit longer.
Every show stands to be unique, as you can play hardball in the political horse-trading. But then it's your fault if Labour is swept out of power. So I could have brought the government down from the inside, but my fellow guests' readiness to concede anything meant we fudged our way through. We stopped short of leaving the pound, but still failed to prevent Equity, the actors' union, from going on strike.
If the Tories want voters to get a taste in this election of the chaos of a Corbyn government, they should send them to relive the Winter of Discontent in this show. The only way to stay in power and avoid chaos requires grisly compromise and to give the unions whatever they want. Every decision the audience makes shapes the ending, which I was sucked into by being among the guests who had to represent the Government in artfully done mock media interviews, putting the best gloss on all we gave away for survival. The actors are good enough improvisers to give back as much as you want to put in, although you are welcome to take a back seat and watch it all unfold. It is accessible enough to bring those unfamiliar with Seventies politics into its world, while allowing political nerds to use their extra knowledge to know exactly how to cajole and blackmail MPs (while non-nerds can rely on nearby files profiling each MP to catch up).
As madly farcical as The Thick of It, but without the swearing, Crisis? What Crisis? is a memorable and riveting piece of theatre.
Until December 8. Tickets: parabolictheatre.com
- Location
- New Amsterdam
Looks awesome! I finally figured out the transportation—slated to attend the very last performance of the show on December 8. Can’t wait!!
- Location
- Coventry
FWIW I am also hyped about this and stoked to take part.
Back on Thursday for third time lucky!
- Location
- Balham
- Pronouns
- he/him
My GF and her folks are in then, it's a small crowd (at present) but should be good fun.
Trying to get some people I know to pop down by hook or by crook
Last time, we nationalised everything.
This time, we ended up privatising everything (except North Sea oil, which we nationalised).
Sunny Jim's going to have some interesting interviews next day for both things. Thatcher too, for the latter. "Yes, well, he hasn't privatised...... Wales, has he."
This time, we ended up privatising everything (except North Sea oil, which we nationalised).
Sunny Jim's going to have some interesting interviews next day for both things. Thatcher too, for the latter. "Yes, well, he hasn't privatised...... Wales, has he."
- Location
- Balham
- Pronouns
- he/him
Yep, and it's really helped with sales.
Shoutout to @Lord Roem who not content with making half the posters in the room, also told Marie to come and give it a go and in doing so has domino-effected us into selling a truckload more tickets. This man is your friend, he fights for freedom.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
If you've got any more twitter write-ups you want me to link to on the SLP social media, let me know.