Ten Tiny Toes 

The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

June 13 – July 5
Author: Esther Wilson
Director: Polly Teale
Producer: The Everyman Playhouse with Shared Experience
Cast: Lisa Parry, Joe Shipman, Joanna Bacon, David Lyons, Barry McCormick, Paula Stockbridge, Fionnuala Dorrity

Running Time: 2hrs 20 mins

In writing a play that should be shown to every man and woman who has a view on what this war and others is actually about, Esther Wilson has created not only something important but, also, something quite astonishingly beautiful and long may the Everyman and Playhouse continue to encourage work of such quality from its burgeoning stable of writing talent.

Set in Liverpool, but based firmly in Iraq and Afghanistan, three families scan the Internet or watch twenty-four hour news for information about their serving sons and whether an audiences politics are pro or anti-war, the balance and depth of emotion both the writer, Esther Wilson, and the Director, Polly Teale, have injected into each side of the argument is so powerful it is impossible to tear ones eyes away from what is transpiring before them.

All of the performances are electric. Lisa Parry as Gill Kent, who has to endure her eldest son, Mikey, joining up first and then her youngest, Joe, following on, is outstanding in giving her character a realistic edge that is beyond reproach.  Joanna Bacon, a protestor not only against the war but of how the servicemen and women are being treated, is hauntingly dogmatic as she rings her bell and reads out the names of the newly deceased, mourning the loss of her own son in private. David Lyons as Mikey is so acutely impassioned he might well have stolen the night were it not for Joe Shipman’s portrayal of Chris, the Kent’s youngest son. Here in its own right is a performance filled with enough humour, sadness and eerie resonance it is worthy of the admission price alone.
TV images projected onto a huge screen at the back of the cleverly designed set, give a very real sense of place as the families gather to watch on their small sets in the corner of a room, adding a deep emotional power to a play that is already brimming with sensitivity and understanding. A quite exceptional piece of work and a memorable night out for more reasons than mere entertainment value.

Chris High

LISTEN HERE TO... Chris High on BBC Radio Merseyside talking about 'Ten Tiny Toes' - 20th June 2008

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