★★★

Reviewer - BECKY

*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review.

CONTENT NOTE WARNINGS: Life Before The Line deals with themes of anti-semitism, terrorist drill, mention of threat, mild sexual content, and mental health.

“This time, it’s not a drill.”

Life Before The Line, written by Amy Lever, is a drama centred around 4 Jewish teenagers sitting in a revision session about to take their GCSEs when the terrorist alarm rings. They are left with all of the time in the world to think… This is an eye-opening coming-of-age story about growing up within the British Jewish community and the hardships they face still to this day. Originally performed as a student production at Cambridge University's Corpus Playroom, Life Before the Line received five star reviews, sold out shows and was named one of the top ten productions of the year by Varsity.

Set in Manchester in 2016 during the rise of antisemitism, the play follows the timeline leading up to the alarm, going back and forth between the past and the present. It tackles some very hard-hitting and sensitive issues such as religious discrimination, sexual identity, grief, and mental health. We follow each character one by one, building up to present day events. There was an abundance of breaking the fourth wall and having the characters narrate their own story, describing the battles they have faced and struggles they endure due to their beliefs and upbringing.

A standout performance was given by Jack Medlin as Allister, who gave much-needed comedic relief to the show, delivering brilliant one-liners, making him the most likeable character throughout the show but still delivering emotions when it was necessary. Arabella Alhaddad did an outstanding job of portraying a young girl struggling with her sexual identity. We follow her story of falling in love with Esty (Emma Kentridge) and really root for her to be open and honest about her feelings, knowing they are nothing to be ashamed of. They were accompanied by some excellent up and coming actors such as Abraham Alsalihi. His character is Danny, a student suffering from Cystic Fibrosis who is awaiting a lung transplant. Sam Brown & Dounia El Barhadi were also multitasking talents that made up the ensemble.

The staging was very minimal, but I believe this worked to the show’s benefit as it gave full tunnel vision towards the actors' performances and their ability to react well to one another without the distraction of an over-the-top set design. This then translates well to the audience how the characters were feeling throughout the play’s events. This is credit of Amy Lever’s writing and Ben Phillip’s direction.

There were times, however, when the concept of a changing timeline and very segmented piece of material, became difficult to follow at times. There were snippets of dialogue which were very heavy and fast-paced. This made it difficult to feel fully immersed in the events that were unfolding in front of us. This being said, the overall theme and message of the show came to a well-received conclusion, an almost plot twist if you will, that allowed the audience to feel a sense of unified relief.

The Cockpit Theatre was an excellent venue for this show as it’s circular seating made it all the more immersive. The seating was unreserved at this venue but there honestly didn’t seem to be any seats that would have been undesirable.

Life Before The Line is an interesting piece, opening the eyes of many to what it’s like to grow up during such politically charged times. It’s a show very close to writer Amy Lever’s heart as she wrote this inspired by her own experiences attending a Jewish faith school in North Manchester. It’s also a beautiful memorial for the true life story of Dylan Samuels, a boy Amy went to school with who lost his life after having a lung transplant as part of CF treatment that had gone wrong. All the profits from the original run were donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust in his honour.

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