Leeds Year of Culture 2023 is coming to an end after a year of celebrating everything that makes Leeds unique and vibrant.
This not-for-profit venture has brought hundreds of artists and thousands of residents together in order to bring our City to the forefront of creativity, whilst reinforcing what it means to be a member of the Leeds community.
The Gifting is the final event of what has been a trailblazing year. After the success of the opening event, The Awakening, co-directors Kully Thiarai and Alan Lane (of Slung Low fame) were tasked with the mission of creating a show that highlights the key aims that Leeds Year of Culture set out to achieve. Not only were they to bring the year to an end but they were also to create a piece that opens the door for a permanent place of culture and creativity within our City.
Back in October in a Radio Leeds interview, Alan Lane promised a show like nothing you have seen before. And he certainly lived up to this promise.
The show takes place at Versa Film Studios in Holbeck, a building I’ve driven past many times and have never noticed. A bit of advice is that there’s a good pay and display car park just round the corner on Spence Lane, although the production has also put on several free shuttle buses from Elland Road and Leeds City Centre to make travelling even easier for you. As you arrive at the venue you are requested to wait outside in the courtyard, so do dress appropriately for the season. There’s a lovely coffee van selling hot drinks and home baked treats, with hot food served next door too, including masala fries, onion bhajis and (extremely delicious!) samosas. As you enter the courtyard, you are given headphones and a receiver to wear as you watch the performance. As the warehouse doors open at the start of the performance the crowd is herded in and you are told to pop on the headphones, as atmospheric music is projected.
Entering the venue feels like entering a futuristic spaceship, with dense smoke and bright flashing lights. You enter a massive warehouse space with a small portable stage raised high up off the floor. The whole experience is atmospheric, with ghostly music playing from a live band that can just be made out in the far lefthand corner of the space. A man enters the stage, dressed almost like a circus ringmaster, and explains the nature of the show; how 12 stories will be told over 70 minutes. We soon learn that the narrator role is shared by about 7 different actors, each wearing the same outfit, often appearing together to tell the stories.
The stories in the production are based on some of the tales within the book, created as part of the ‘Northern Dreaming’ festival. The names of the stories appear on the screens around the band and help you on the journey. Some of the stories are fleeting and not fully explored, but five in particular are told in full and draw you into a fully immersive storytelling world. These stories are unique fables which send a message of what it means to be human and to live where we do.
My personal favourite story is that of the Brickman, an idea that was once buried as it was too large to conceive, only to be brought alive again years later when Leeds as a City had developed the power to be open-minded and creative. Another favourite is the memoir of Sir Montague Burton, the true story of a Jewish Russian immigrant who fled to the UK with nothing but his brains and ended up creating the largest factory in the world, right here in Leeds. The simplicity of the storytelling, the actor simply putting on one clothing item at a time, was engaging and powerful, symbolising the gradual growth of the man, from nothing to prosperity. It left a powerful message that anyone can achieve, even when much of the world seems against you.
The highlight for me was the band, a small setup consisting of guitars, singers and even at times a cello, violin and something sounding like pan pipes. With original music created by the company Rash Dash, the band had a Mumford and Sons folk sound to it, with the most amazing harmonies created not just within the band but with the narrators, too, having at times up to what sounded like six part harmonies being created. As the sound was in your headphones, the music was clear and all-consuming, no matter where in the warehouse you were. The incidental music for the stories was often created by the band, too, sounding so integral to the story that unless you looked at the band you probably thought it was recorded. The often eerie atmosphere created by the band helped to focus the audience on the story and messages being presented. To create contrast, the mood regularly changed though, with more lively songs and bright lights to keep the audience engaged.
The creative use of the space is something else that must be noted. This is a promenade performance, but at no point are you told where to go. Different audience spaces are lit up and nervously the audience slowly make their way towards each one. However, because the sound is so good there is no need to if you wish to view a particular scene from a distance. As the show progressed ,the audience became bolder and started moving closer to the different performance areas. The handing out of the 80s staple sweets dip dabs (and the performers’ encouragement to eat them) also helped to add courage to the audience.
I don’t want to spoil the surprise too much for you so I won’t delve into detail, but the lighting is particularly evoking, the pyrotechnics adding some seriously impressive moments. At one point you feel like you’re in a planetarium, lights shining all around you as you’re encouraged to shine like the stars.
I’ve purposely not mentioned any particular performer as so many cast and crew are involved in this production that it is a true ensemble fete. It is creative, it is clever and it is most certainly like nothing you’ve seen before. There’s so much in this production that 70 minutes isn’t enough to take in every element. I know that each item on the set, each word that is spoken has been chosen carefully and has a deeper meaning than you can possibly realise in a single viewing.
A Q&A would have been brilliant to fully appreciate all the decisions made, although maybe another viewing would be just as worthwhile too in order for me to stand in a different location, notice a different element. This is a production about Leeds, but not only that: it is a show that has a clear message, too.
This has been Leeds Year of Culture and although this is the final production of the year, they are making the point that this is only the start, that all humans have the innate desire to tell stories and that Leeds has so many stories to tell.
This is also a promise from Leeds that our Culture isn’t only for a year: it is here to stay, and it is here to be heard.
The Gifting runs until 31 December.
Book now
Price: up to £15 with a range of concessionary pricing from £7.50. Essential companions free.
Duration: approximately 70 minutes.
Age advisory: Ages 7+Standing
The Gifting is a promenade performance.
Location: Versa Studios, Whitehall Road, Holbeck.
1.2km from Leeds Train Station.
Photography by JMA Photography.
