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All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
Bush Theatre, London
YOUTH, energy, exuberance and action fill this enjoyable and perceptive 90-minute view of the Britain we live in. Writer Luke Barnes, director Paul Smith and composer and musical director James Frewer combine to galvanise the audience in what's hugely accessible, all-round entertainment.
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is produced by Hull-based company Middle Child, whose aim — to attract working-class audiences and those who feel alienated by the word “theatre” — is spectacularly achieved. The music is fast and compelling, the scenes short and pithy, the setting the authentic world of Hull and the characters so true to real life you wonder why they so rarely feature on stage.
The story is of a boy, a girl and an asteroid with the latter — portrayed in human form by Alice Beaumont — being on course to wipe out the world. The pair, born in 1987, meet during 1997’s Cool Britannia, pass through 2007’s Broken Britain and the “war on terror” and meet again in the 2017 of Brexit and Trump.
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