Liberation - Royal Exchange Theatre

Not to be missed - Liberation at the Royal Exchange.

AS a teenager I can remember watching Boys from the Blackstuff on TV and being both shocked and angered by what I saw on the big screen because, having grown up in safe, suburban south Trafford I had no idea people lived like this.

It was deeply thought provoking and anger inducing and I felt exactly the same watching the world premiere of Liberation at the Royal Exchange.

The piece, which comes from the pen of Ntombizodwa Nyoni, takes us back to the Pan African Congress and the version of the event that took place in Manchester in 1945.

Delegates from all over the continent met to discuss how a brighter and more prosperous future could be secured for peoples still living with the appalling exploitation that was part and parcel of colonialism.

Nyoni’s script stirs up a variety of emotions while, at the same time, not seeming to play upon them and the most remarkable thing for me is that this, thematically, is a play of epicc proportions and yet, interval included, it’s just over two hours long.

I am not going to single out individual performances as this assumes there were bad ones which is simply not the case. The performances are beyond acting with each performer actually becoming the person they are playing, which is thanks to their considerable talent and the talent of director, Monique Touko.

In terms of my favourite characters it has to be the boxer Len Johnson, an athlete of mixed race whose mother has to endure the most appalling racist attacks at the hands of racist thugs.

I enjoyed this production immeasurably and I hope it attracts the audiences it undoubtedly deserves, more so than it did the day after press night, which I was unable to attend.

Brilliant, top quality theatre. Do not miss it.

Until July 26. Tickets are available from 0161 833 9833 or www.royalexchange.co.uk.

Star rating - *****