Every year there are new immersive shows trying to shepherd big audiences around a story. Few of them manage to create something with as much raucous energy and emotional integrity as Redemption. Made by the Big House, a venue that nurtures talent in young adults who have spent time in the care system, this immediate and ambitious promenade performance is a powerful journey of hope, grief and music.
Renaya Dennis is exceptional as our lead and narrator, Maz, who has run away from a volatile situation at her care home. Vulnerable and stand-offish, Dennis is angular and harsh against the softness of Tayo (Shaquille Jack), a shy boy with an angelic voice who Maz meets in a recording studio. At first it’s awkward when they’re left alone, but music helps them find their way together, her grime blending beautifully with his soul.
The music that threads through the whole piece (text and lyrics by James Meteyard, music by the Last Skeptik) has such range, from pumping club sets to a gentle melody sung on a bed, one person crying on the lap of another.
As tensions rise and characters storm out, we follow them through the sprawling building of dusty brick, chipboard, dangling wires and graffitied walls. The design (Zoë Hurwitz) uses the already atmospheric space artfully, creating a music studio downstairs, up to a littered attic living room where Call of Duty is playing, then back down to the neon glow of a nightclub.
The queues for the narrow staircases can be clumsy and slow, but the actors hold the moment, waiting for us all to squeeze in. Tonight, director and head of the Big House, Maggie Norris, waves us in, while her golden retriever plops himself down and waits to be ushered into the next scene.
As we’re rooting for Maz, who’s starting to carve her place in the music scene, everything is threatening to give way beneath her. Richly told by a cast who understand first-hand the heart of the story they are telling, Redemption ends on a note of hope. But rumbling underneath is a reminder of where the power doesn’t lie; talent isn’t enough if you don’t have the money, the security, the second chances.
At the Big House, London, until 11 December
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